Annan Arrives in Damascus for Talks with Top Officials

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Damascus on Monday for talks with top officials, Syria's pro-government al-Ikhbariya television reported.

The former U.N. chief was to meet Foreign Minister Walid Muallem later on Monday ahead of talks with President Bashar Assad on Tuesday, a Syrian official source said earlier, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was Annan's second visit to Syria since the start of his mission three months ago.

It came after the U.N. Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned the Syrian government for using artillery in a massacre in which at least 108 people were killed in the central town of Houla.

Annan first visited Syria as special envoy on March 10.

His six-point peace plan was supposed to begin with a ceasefire from April 12 but, despite the deployment of a U.N. military observer mission, it has failed to take hold.