World

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A Syrian girl, Bushra al-Hassan, 4, injured from a government airstrike, cries at Jabal al-Zaweya village of Sarjeh, in Idlib, Syria, Monday Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Syria said Monday it is prepared to hold talks with the armed rebels bent on overthrowing President Bashar Assad, the clearest signal yet that the regime is growing increasingly nervous about its long-term prospects to hold onto power as opposition fighters make slow but persistent headway in the civil war.

The offer, by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem during a visit to Moscow, came hours before residents of Damascus and state-run TV reported a huge explosion in the capital, followed by gunfire.

The proposal marked the first time that a high-ranking regime official has stated publicly that Damascus would be willing to meet with the armed opposition. But al-Moallem did not spell out whether rebels would first have to lay down their weapons before negotiations could begin — a crucial sticking point in the past.

The regime's proposal is unlikely to lead to talks. The rebels battling the Syrian military have vowed to stop at nothing less than Assad's downfall and are unlikely to agree to sit down with a leader they accuse of mass atrocities.

But the timing of the proposal suggests the regime is warming to the idea of a settlement as it struggles to hold territory and claw back ground it has lost to the rebels in the nearly 2-year-old conflict.

Opposition fighters have scored several tactical victories in recent weeks, capturing the nation's largest hydroelectric dam and overtaking airbases in the northeast. In Damascus, they have advanced from their strongholds in the suburbs into neighbourhoods in the northeast and southern rim of the capital, while peppering the centre of the city with mortar rounds for days.

Monday night's blast, which activists said was most likely a car bomb, exploded about 800 yards (metres) from Abbasid Square, a landmark plaza in central Damascus. The explosion and subsequent gunfire caused panic in the capital, although the target was not immediately clear and it was not known if there were any casualties.

On Thursday, a car bomb near the ruling Baath Party headquarters in Damascus killed at least 53 people, according to state media.

While the momentum appears to be shifting in the rebels' direction, the regime's grip on Damascus remains firm, and Assad's fall is far from imminent.