Syrian opposition call for talks

Syrian opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib had urged President Bashar al-Assad to respond to his offer of peace talks.

Mr Khatib called on Mr Assad to give his vice-president the task of opening negotiations. He said the aim would be to help the Syrian regime stand down peacefully, to spare further bloodshed. The US has backed Mr Khatib's initiative but there has been no response so far from Damascus. Meanwhile, a former US ambassador to Syria and Israel has said that President Bashar al-Assad is becoming increasingly "delusional and dangerous". Mr Assad has insisted that Syria could retaliate Israel's apparent airstrike last week inside his country's borders but Edward Djerejian said it was unlikely he would.

In a separate development, a large-scale operation is under way in Syria to secure safe water supplies for more than 10 million people – close to half the population, UNICEF said Monday.

Listen to the full report by Nathan Morley: