The UN and Arab League's envoy¹ to Syria, Kofi Annan, is due to meet President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus for talks on his six-point peace plan.

联合国与阿拉伯联盟驻叙利亚特使科菲·安南将会见叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德，商讨他的六方和平计划。

The meeting comes after Mr Annan acknowledged that the plan has so far failed to end the violence.

A week ago, a meeting of major powers called for a transitional（过渡期的） unity² government in Syria.

Mr Assad has accused the US of trying to destabilise Syria by giving "gangs" in his country political protection.

Syria's Foreign Ministry³ spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, told the AFP news agency that the talks would focus on the six-point plan for peace mediated⁴ by Mr Annan earlier this year.

In an interview published on Saturday, Kofi Annan told the French paper Le Monde that the plan for Syria had so far "failed" to end the bloodshed（流血，杀戮） .

A day earlier, he recommended in a report to the UN Security Council that the UN mission that is meant to be monitoring the truce⁵ in Syria should instead focus on political mediation⁶.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in neighbouring Lebanon, says that after efforts to pave the way for a political dialogue by ending the violence failed, the emphasis is now on trying to achieve a political solution first.

But Mr Annan faces an uphill task in trying to break the vicious circle of blame and recrimination between the regime and its opponents, our correspondent adds.

Syrian opposition⁷ groups demand that Mr Assad and close allies of his should be excluded from any transition government, but the president insists he will not step down.