Syria opens 'national dialogue'
Syria opened a ``national dialogue'' that it hailed as a step towards multi-party democracy after five decades of Baath party rule but its credibility was undermined by an opposition boycott.
Syria is ready for talks with the armed opposition groups to restore peace in the country, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said on Monday, in the clearest offer yet of negotiations with foreign-backed rebels fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.