International envoy Kofi Annan has met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in talks the U.N. diplomat called “constructive and candid.”

Mr. Annan told reporters in Damascus the two discussed ways to end the violence between opposition forces and the government. He added that they had agreed on an approach that he would share with the armed opposition.

Mr. Annan has been trying for months to implement a peace plan in Syria, but has admitted that international efforts calling for negotiations between the opposition and the government have failed

In a Sunday interview with German television, Mr. Assad accused the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar of hindering peace and supporting what he calls “terrorists.”

The United Nations wants independent investigators to probe Mr. Assad's charges that terrorists, and not the government, are responsible for the violence.