Assad offers amnesty to Syria rebels who surrender

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday offered an amnesty to armed rebels battling his forces if they surrender, the official SANA news agency reported. "Everyone carrying arms... and sought by justice... is excluded from full punishment if they hand themselves in and lay down their weapons," SANA said, quoting a presidential decree on the three-month amnesty offer. Assad's ally Russia said Thursday it had launched a "large-scale" operation with the Syrian government to open humanitarian c