United Nations: The United Nations on Tuesday increased its death toll for the Syria unrest to more than 9,000.
Robert Serry, a UN Middle East peace envoy, told the Security Council there were "credible" estimates that the number of dead was now more than 9,000.
Opposition welcomes peace plan
Paris: A member of the Syrian National Council says the opposition welcomes the government's acceptance of a UN peace plan.
Bassma Kodmani told The Associated Press by telephone Tuesday that "we welcome all acceptance by the regime of a plan that could allow the repression and bloodbath to stop".
She is a Paris-based member of the opposition Syrian National Council.
She added, "we hope that we can move toward a peace process".
Injured to be evacuated
A spokesman for U.N. envoy Kofi Annan says Syria's government has accepted a plan he is negotiating, which includes a cease-fire by Syrian forces and a daily two-hour halt to fighting to evacuate the injured.
Six-point plan
Syria has accepted a six-point peace plan that was proposed by Kofi Annan and backed by the UN Security Council, Annan said in a statement issued by his spokesman in Beijing on Tuesday.
Annan, the joint special envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League, "views this as an important initial step that could bring an end to the violence and the bloodshed, provide aid to the suffering, and create an environment conducive to a political dialogue that would fulfil the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," the statement said.
But implementation of the plan will be key and Annan would be working with all parties at all levels to ensure it was implemented, the statement added.
UN-Arab League envoy's spokesman
Annan's statement quickly followed one by his spokesman, that the government in Damascus had agreed to accept UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's six-point plan on ending the bloodshed in Syria.
"The Syrian government has written to the Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan accepting his six-point plan, endorsed by the United Nations Security Council," spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement.
"Mr Annan views this as an important initial step that could bring an end to the violence and the bloodshed, provide aid to the suffering, and create an environment conducive to a political dialogue that would fulfil the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," he said.
Annan has written to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad asking Damascus to "put its commitments into immediate effect".
The news was closely followed by reports that Al Assad had been shown on TV touring a neighbourhood in Homs.
TV shows Al Assad touring Homs neighbourhood
Damascus: Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on Tuesday toured the flashpoint Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs, site of a fierce battle between regime forces and rebel troops that left hundreds dead, state television reported.
"The president is currently touring Baba Amr in Homs," the television said.
Calls for Al Assad to quit 'shortsighted' — Russia's Medvedev
Moscow: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday said it was "short-sighted" to think that the crisis in Syria would be solved if President Bashar Al Assad agreed to Western calls to step down.
"To think that Assad's departure would mean the removal of all the problems is a very short-sighted position and everyone understands that if this happened the conflict would most likely continue," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Medvedev as telling Russian reporters at a summit in Seoul.
Kofi Annan peace plan
Annan's plan calls for a UN-supervised halt to fighting, with the government pulling troops and heavy weapons out of protest cities, a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire and access to all areas affected by the fighting.
He also urged the release of people detained over the past year of the uprising against Assad's regime in which monitors say more than 9,100 people have been killed.
"Mr Annan has stressed that implementation will be key, not only for the Syrian people, who are caught in the middle of this tragedy, but also for the region and the international community as a whole," Fawzi said.
