Syria Ministers Assigned Tasks for Assad Plan

Syrian ministers have taken on specific tasks for implementing President Bashar Assad's plan to end the country's raging civil war, state news agency SANA said on Wednesday.

The plan, announced by Assad on Sunday, is being rolled out by the government despite it being rejected by opposition groups within and without the violence-wracked country.

The foreign ministry "is responsible for making the regional and international contacts to clarify the (Assad) initiative and to garner support for it... especially monitoring the borders," SANA said.

Assad in his rare public speech on Sunday singled out the issue of border control as key to "a political solution" to Syria's conflict.

Assad's regime has long accused foreign powers of financing, arming and training rebels, and large stretches of Syria's border with Turkey and Iraq have fallen out of regime control and into rebel hands.

The government on Wednesday urged "states in the region and (members of) the international community" that have ties to rebel groups "to stop financing and arming them (and to) work towards stopping violence in all its forms."

Echoing Assad's speech, the government also said the international community should help "protect Syria, its unity, sovereignty and independence," SANA said.

The statements came a day after information minister Omran al-Zohbi renewed Assad's calls for opposition figures to enter into a dialogue for peace.

The main, internationally recognized opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition based out of Cairo, immediately dismissed Assad's offer, sticking to its pre-condition that the president step down before any talks could be considered.

The tolerated domestic opposition group, the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria, has also snubbed the proposal.

Western nations called Assad's speech outlining a plan to restore peace to Syria while defiantly making no compromises as detached from reality and essentially empty.