Syrian opposition rejects dialogue with gov't

The Syrian authorities released Tuesday a total of 275 detainees, who had been arrested over involvement with the anti-government movement, in a bid to show a good will to bring an end to the ongoing crisis at a time the opposition rejected Tuesday dialogue with the Syrian leadership.

The state-run SANA news agency said the released detainees were not involved in murders, adding that the latest release is the seventh time since the unrest began last year.

The release of those detained came just one day after the visit of international envoy Kofi Annan, who urged for a cessation of violence and the implementation of his six-point peace plan.

As part of his efforts to contribute a solution to the ongoing violence in Syria, Annan, the UN-Arab League joint special envoy, has continued shuttling between neighbors of Syria in a bid to garner momentum and support for his faltering peace efforts.

Annan visited Syria Monday and met with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, during which the two sides agreed on an "approach" to end the violence. But the details of the new approach were not immediately publicized.

After the Annan-Assad meeting, the Syrian administration stressed its commitment to the Annan peace plane, state media reported, saying that the plan's prospect depends largely on halting international support to armed opposition.

After wrapping up his brief visit to Syria, Annan headed to Iran Monday afternoon and set foot in Iraq Tuesday.

Annan said recently that Iran should play a role in the efforts exerted to solve the Syrian crisis. But involving Iran in the talks on Syria was rejected by the U.S. and its western allies.

Annan's new approach is designed to halt the clashes in order to pave the way for a national dialogue that would be a prelude for a political process in the unrest-hit country.

However, a member of the Turkish-based Syrian National Council (SNC) said Tuesday that the opposition umbrella group ruled out any forms of dialogue with President Assad.

"There can be no dialogue with the ruling regime. There can only be talks on how to switch to a new political system," Basma Kodmani, a member of the SNC Executive Board, said at a news briefing.

According to Kodmani, toppling Assad's government was the primary task of Syrian opposition groups.

"What unites the Syrian opposition is the agreement to topple the existing Syrian regime and create a new political system in the country," she added.

She also called on Russia, an influential power to the Assad government, to help the opposition to "turn the page of the old regime and transform to a new democratic order."

Kodmani also rejected Iran's participation in the international meeting concerning the Syria crisis, as "Tehran has offered financial and military assistance to Damascus."

Also on Tuesday, Russia said the delegation of the SNC will hold talks with the Russian side on UN-Arab League joint envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan and the final declaration of the Geneva meeting.

An action group of world powers gathered in Geneva on June 30 and agreed on a roadmap to pave the way for a Syrian-led transition to end the country's 16-month conflict.

While the efforts are still on to end the crisis, the violence on ground continued. In fresh circle of violence Tuesday, a Syrian Red Crescent driver was killed Tuesday in eastern Deir al-Zour province while on duty.

In a statement sent to Xinhua, the Red Crescent condemned the attack on its humanitarian convoys, calling on the authorities to undertake the necessary investigations to expose the culprits and bring them to trial.

Also on Tuesday, Syria's state media said an armed terrorist group assassinated a doctor in the northern city of Aleppo. The doctor was shot down while was driving his car, said SANA, adding that he was hospitalized and later died of his wounds.

In another incident, engineering units disabled four improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by gunmen on the Jisr al-Shughour- Darkoush road in northern Syria, close to the Turkish borders.

On the opposition side, the activists' network, Local Coordination Committees, reported the shelling of the Syrian troops on a number of Syrian areas. It also said the clashes erupted Tuesday between the government troops and the armed rebels in several areas, including Akraba suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus.

It said that as many as 41 people were killed Tuesday nationwide. Such accounts are difficult to be independently checked.

Meantime, the Syrian armed forces continued its military maneuvers Tuesday for the fourth consecutive day. The war games aim to test the readiness of the Syrian army and its ability to fend off any possible attack, particularly as the country is facing internal and external threats of military assaults.

Apparently, the Syrian leadership wants to show off power after 16-months of unrest to show that it still have firm grip on power.

The United Nations said at least 9,000 Syrians were killed in the year-long unrest that started in March 2011, while the activists' group, Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, placed the death toll of Syria's 16-months unrest at 17, 129, among them 11,897 were civilians.

There has been no independent confirmation of the activists' accounts.

The protracted violence in Syria has also forced 103,000 of its citizens to seek refuge in neighboring Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, the UN humanitarian affairs agency said last week.