Kofi Annan to visit Syria

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Former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, who is now the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, said he plans to visit the country.

He was meeting with his successor Ban Ki-moon at the U.N. headquarters in New York, when he announced his plan.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL AND UNITED NATIONS-ARAB LEAGUE JOINT SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA KOFI ANNAN, SAYING:

"It is a very difficult assignment. It's a tough challenge and the first thing we need to do as the Secretary-General has said is to do everything we can to stop the violence and the killing to facilitate humanitarian access and ensure that the needy are looked after and work with the Syrians in coming up with a peaceful solution which respects the aspirations and eventually stabilize the country."

He hopes his eventual visit to Syria will help in ending the country's bloodiest turmoil in decades.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL AND UNITED NATIONS-ARAB LEAGUE JOINT SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA KOFI ANNAN, SAYING:

"Time will tell. We haven't been in touch for a couple of years and so I will not presume anything. We will make the demarches and time will tell, but I would plead with him that he should engage, not only with me, but with the process that we are launching today."

Amateur video showed tanks patrolling the streets of Homs on Wednesday as heavy fighting continued.

Further footage showed a funeral procession reportedly in Idlib with hundreds gathered to mourn the loss of a young girl.

The circumstances of her death were not clear.

Reuters cannot independently verify the content of the videos.

A member of the opposition Syrian National Council said he was targeted by the Syrian soldiers.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) WOUNDED ACTIVIST AND MEMBER OF THE SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL, MULHAM AL-JUNDI, SAYING:

"We got attacked by one car from (Bashar) al-Assad's regime. They shot two, three civilians. One of them was me, and two are at another field hospital. And here (showing his leg) you can find the bullet, it (went) inside from here (pointing to dressed entry wound) and went outside from there (pointing to dressed exit wound).

The 26-year-old network engineer, who works in Saudi Arabia, smuggled himself into Homs two weeks ago.

He has since been publishing photos and videos on his Facebook page on the destruction and victims of the bombardment.

U.N. has said more than 7,500 civilians were killed by the Syrian forces since the start of the revolt.

Sophia Soo, Reuters.