Syrian official implores rebels to lay down arms

BEIRUT -- Syria's foreign minister invited the country's rebels yesterday to lay down their weapons and take part in a national dialogue, saying everyone who participates will be included in a new cabinet with wide executive powers.

Walid al-Moallem said on state TV that any opposition parties could join the cabinet as long as they reject foreign intervention in Syria. The government has started contacting "representatives of the Syrian people," he added.

Earlier this month, President Bashar Assad dismissed calls that he step down. Assad also proposed a national reconciliation conference, elections and a new constitution -- concessions offered previously during the uprising that began in March 2011. The opposition says that Assad can play no role in a resolution to the conflict.

"I tell the young men who carried arms to change and reform, take part in the dialogue for a new Syria and you will be a partner in building it. Why carry arms," al-Moallem said in the hourlong interview.

The interview came as activists reported violence in different areas of Syria.

In the northern province of Idlib, Syrian troops fought rebels who are trying to capture two military bases in the northwest and step up their attacks on army compounds elsewhere in the country, activists said.

In Turkey, state-run Anadolu news agency said Syria's air force targeted a mosque and a school building that was apparently sheltering displaced Syrians in the town of Salqin, about four miles from the border with Turkey. Dozens of people were killed and wounded.

Syria said troops had targeted rebel hideouts in Salqin. -- AP