The UN and Arab League's envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, is due to meet President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus for talks on his six-point peace plan, BBC news reported.

The meeting comes after Annan acknowledged that the plan has so far failed to end the violence.

A week ago, a meeting of major powers called for a transitional unity government in Syria.

Assad has accused the US of trying to destabilise Syria by giving "gangs" in his country political protection.

Syria's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, told the AFP news agency that the talks would focus on the six-point plan for peace mediated by Mr Annan earlier this year.

In an interview published on Saturday, Kofi Annan told the French paper Le Monde that the plan for Syria had so far "failed" to end the bloodshed.

A day earlier, he recommended in a report to the UN Security Council that the UN mission that is meant to be monitoring the truce in Syria should instead focus on political mediation.

But Annan reportedly faces an uphill task in trying to break the vicious circle of blame and recrimination between the regime and its opponents, our correspondent adds.

Syrian opposition groups demand that Mr Assad and close allies of his should be excluded from any transition government, but the president insists he will not step down.