21 Jun 2012

Syrian president may be offered safe passage for standing down

9:38 pm on 21 June 2012

There are reports that Britain and the US may be prepared to offer President Bashar al-Assad safe passage and possibly even clemency if he was prepared to stand down.

The suggestion came out of separate meetings at this week's G20 summit in Mexico that David Cameron and Barack Obama held with Russia's president Vladimir Putin.

One British official is quoted as saying that just enough came out of those meetings to justify pushing for a negotiated settlement.