Syrian troops backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah on Sunday entered Qusayr, a strategic rebel stronghold linking Damascus to the coast, a day after President Bashar al-Assad insisted he would not step aside. The advance came as Assad's opponents warned his regime's "barbaric and destructive" assault on the town could torpedo US-Russian attempts to organise a conference on ending more than two years of bloodshed.

Syrian troops backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah on Sunday entered Qusayr, a strategic rebel stronghold linking Damascus to the coast, a day after President Bashar al-Assad insisted he would not quit. The advance came as Assad's opponents warned his regime's "barbaric and destructive" assault on Qusayr could torpedo US-Russian attempts to organise a conference on ending more than two years of bloodshed.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Saturday he welcomed a US-Russian peace initiative to end Syria's civil war but had no plans to resign, in an interview with an Argentine newspaper. "To resign would be to flee," he told the Clarin when asked if he would consider stepping aside as called for by US Secretary of State John Kerry. "I don't know if Kerry or anyone else has received the power of the Syrian people to talk in their name about who should go and who should stay. That will be determined by the Syrian people in the 2014 presidential elections," Assad said.

France said Friday it is opposed to having Iran attend a peace conference on Syria despite Damascus's ally Russia wanting Tehran's presence at the event expected in the first half of June. Foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said: "We do not want Iran. The Syrian crisis is contagious and affects the entire zone. Regional stability is at stake and we cannot see how a country (Iran) that threatens this stability can participate in this conference."