Russia envoy says Assad 'committed' to ending bloodshed

Russia's foreign minister said after Damascus talks on today that President Bashar al-Assad was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed in Syria even as regime tanks pounded the central city of Homs for a fourth straight day.

Sergei Lavrov said he had had a "very useful" meeting with Assad and that Moscow was eager to work towards a solution based on an Arab League plan that it had previously criticised.

"We (Russia) confirmed our readiness to act for a rapid solution to the crisis based on the plan put forward by the Arab League," said Lavrov, adding that Syria was also ready see an enlarged Arab League mission in the country, Russian news agencies said.

The pan-Arab bloc deployed an observer mission to Syria in December to oversee a plan to end bloodshed that has now lasted almost 11 months but suspended it late January after the mission's chief said that the violence had reached a new pitch of intensity.

The 22-nation League has since put forward a plan for Assad to hand his powers to Vice President Faruq al-Shara and a national unity government to oversee the preparation of democratic elections.

Lavrov said Syria was also pressing ahead with the slow-moving reform programme promised by Assad in a series of speeches last year and would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution to replace the current one which enshrines the leading role of his Baath party.