Fighting rages despite Assad's 'peace plan'

Fighting raged across Syria yesterday, including just a few kilometres from where President Bashar al-Assad had unveiled a "peace plan" that Syrians on both sides said would do nothing to end the 21-month-old uprising.

Hours after Assad addressed cheering loyalists at the Damascus Opera House on Sunday in his first public speech in months, clashes erupted near the road to the city's international airport, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The opposition-linked group said artillery hit the district of Arqaba, 5km from the opera house. Fighting continued all night and into Monday around the capital, as well as in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, it said.

In central Syria, the towns of Taybet Imam and Halfaya were bombarded with aerial strikes and artillery, said Abu Faisal, an activist speaking over the internet from Taybet Imam.

"Every four to five minutes, we hear the burst from a rocket. We cannot get any wounded out because we are essentially under siege by the shelling," he said, adding that many civilians had fled.

The government restricts access by international media and the accounts could not be verified.

Damascus residents said Assad's speech, which offered no concessions to his foes, was met with celebratory gunfire in pro-Assad neighbourhoods.

But even there, some saw no sign that peace was closer: a loyalist resident of southern Damascus reached by internet said the speech was eloquent but empty.

"It sounded more like gloating than making promises," said the woman, who gave only her first name, Aliaa.

In the once-affluent district of Mezzeh, scene of several attacks, an Assad critic said people had more pressing concerns than a TV speech.

"Here, no one cares about this speech. They care about food and electricity."

Another said few people had watched the speech and that Assad's crackdown would not stop.

"Military operations will continue in full swing ."

France, the United States, Britain and Turkey all said Assad's speech showed he had lost touch with reality.

The UN said more than 60000 people have died in the 21-month conflict.