Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to serve as special envoy on Syrian crsis
U.N. envoy Kofi Annan said the acceptance by Syria's government of his cease-fire plan is an “important initial step” to ending a deadly crackdown that began in March 2011. Reuters

UN envoy Kofi Annan is sending a team to Syria in a bid to establish a new monitoring mission, according to reports.

Speaking before the Security Council, the former UN Secretary-General renewed calls for an end to the fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and opposition forces, as he laid out plans to try re-establish an international presence in the country.

Talking via video link from Geneva Friday, Annan said: I will be sending teams in this weekend to pursue the discussions on the proposals we left on the table.

The ambitious plan comes after the UN envoy held talks with Assad in Damascus last week, which failed to establish humanitarian access or an end to the bloodshed.

Annan's new endeavor came as Turkey's deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay accused Syria of planting landmines on the border of the two countries in a bid to try and stop the flight of refugees.

The Syrian administration has been planting mines, taking measures not to allow refugees to flee to the other side of the border, Atalay told Turkish NTV.

Many have lost their lives.

The US-based charity Human Rights Watch had earlier called on Damascus to stop planting landmines, which pose a risk for years to come.

Atalay said Turkey was considering setting up a buffer zone to accommodate Syrians fleeing violence in their country.

On Friday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry urged its citizens to leave Syria and return home saying Developments in Syria pose serious security risks for our nationals.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (once a close ally of Assad) has said that once all Turks in Syria have returned, he'll consider withdrawing the Turkish ambassador from Damascus.

Elsewhere, the British-based father-in-law of Assad defended the Syrian president's brutal crackdown, according to UK media and leaked emails.

Cardiologist Dr. Fawaz Akhras, whose glamorous London-born daughter Asma married Assad in 2000, has been caught advising the regime on how to respond to graphic images such as the torture of children by Syrian government forces.

The tranche of e-mails obtained by the UK's Guardian newspaper, showed that Akhras sent dozens of messages to his son-in-law as the violence escalated, including one where he suggested the child torture footage be dismissed as British propaganda aimed at triggering a Syrian genocide, the paper reported.

He also compared the rebellion to last summer's London riots.