- NEW: At least 9 people are killed Sunday, opposition actvists say
- Opposition: A military official threatens bombing if rebels don't turn over weapons
- Annan proposes a cease-fire, release of detainees and aid delivery
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(CNN) -- After laying out plans aimed at halting the bloodshed in Syria, Kofi Annan, the special U.N. envoy to the country, will meet again with President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday in hopes of getting answers to his proposals.
In what he described as a candid and comprehensive discussion, Annan met with al-Assad on Saturday about a cease-fire, the release of detainees and allowing unfettered access to agencies like the Red Cross to deliver much needed aid, a U.N. statement said.
Annan, a former U.N. secretary-general, also proposed a start to an inclusive political dialogue that would "address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the people."
But while Annan waited for answers in Damascus, fresh violence erupted once again across the country.
At least nine people were killed Sunday in places such as Idlib, Aleppo, Latakia, Homs and the Damascus countryside, opposition activists said.
One of the dead, Wael Masri, was shot in the neck in Arbeen, the opposition Syrian Network for Human Rights said. "The Assad military refuses to hand over the dead body to his family unless they sign a document blaming terrorist gangs for his death," the group said.
Clashes also broke out between the Syrian army and rebel fighters in the Damascus suburbs and Aleppo, said the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists. Another opposition group said three regime soldiers were killed in clashes in Idlib.
And in a phone call with a Binish town elder, a major general in al-Assad's military demanded the people of Binish hand over weapons used by defected soldiers and the rebel Free Syrian Army within 24 hours -- or the town will be bombed and stormed early Monday morning, according to the Binish Coordination Committee, part of the LCC.
The reports come after 63 people were killed across Syria on Saturday, the LCC said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another opposition group, said 98 people died, including 39 military defectors, 39 civilians and 20 government troops, including a brigadier general.
What does Washington know about Syria? Saturday's meeting between al-Assad and Annan was the first time in Syria's year-long crisis that al-Assad met with such a high-level diplomat. But the Syrian president quashed the possibility of negotiating with the opposition anytime soon.
A witness to Syria's killing fields Syrian state-run media said al-Assad told Annan that he was ready to find a solution, but that such an effort would first require a look at reality on the ground and not rely on what "is promoted by some regional and international countries to distort the facts and give a picture contrary to what Syria is undergoing."
Syrian crisis impact remains to be seen He also reiterated that "political dialogue or action cannot take place or succeed if there are terrorist armed gangs on the ground that are working on spreading chaos and target the stability of the homeland," the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said.
Torture allegations in Syrian hospitals The Syrian regime has insisted it is not slaughtering dissidents; rather, it says, armed thugs are responsible for killing thousands.
But opposition activists and residents tell a very different story.
Abdel Aziz said Idlib was suffering the kind of heavy shelling the world had seen in the besieged city of Homs. He estimated shelling every two minutes and said many residences and buildings had been damaged or destroyed.
Military resists intervening in Syria He also reported that security forces were searching house to house to arrest activists.
CNN spends '72 Hours in Hell' in Syria "The number of tanks is much greater than defectors," Aziz said. "This scenario is very similar to what happened in Homs."
UK amb to Syria: No future with Assad And in the Daraa village of Jezah, "the regime's army is indiscriminately bombing the city with anti-aircraft missiles. The village is under siege in all directions," the LCC said.
Amid the fighting, Annan's visit presented "a small sign of hope, yet so dim," said Abdel Aziz al-Khair, a member of the National Coordinating Body for Democratic Change.
"There is no way that we can have any dialogue with the regime until the security campaign ends," he said. "They keep playing the victim role, (saying) that they are defending the innocent civilians while they slaughter them and blame the bloodshed on others," he said.
Annan distanced himself from military intervention as did opposition members, agreeing that an armed conflict would only worsen the predicament of civilians, said al-Khair, who met with Annan Saturday.
Both Annan and opposition members agreed that plans for a resolution cannot be implemented as long as the bloodshed continues.
"It is too early to apply a plan to resolve the crisis, " al-Khair said. "The situation on the ground ... is catastrophic.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Annan was trying to "broker a swift transition in which ultimately Assad steps aside and the people of Syria are able to choose an interim government that's representative and leads to elections."
Rice said she wants the situation to be resolved peacefully, "to the extent that that remains still a viable outcome."
But Arab leaders called for intervention given the situation within Syria and held firm to their position that al-Assad must step down.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said the Arab League supported Annan's mission, but also said it is time to send in Arab and other international troops into Syria.
The United Nations says more than 7,500 have died in the past year, and at least one activist group says more than 9,000 people have been killed.
CNN cannot independently confirm opposition or government reports of casualties or attacks from across Syria because the government has severely restricted the access of international journalists. But the vast majority of reports from inside Syria indicate the regime is killing civilians en masse in an attempt to wipe out dissidents seeking al-Assad's ouster.
He is due to leave for Doha in the afternoon
Haytham Manna, of the opposition Coordinating Committee of Democratic Transition in Syria, said time is running out for a diplomatic solution.
"We are getting to the point of no return," said Manna, a Paris-based dissident. "The regime is pushing the country as a whole toward a full scale armed struggle between the very well organized military institution and our people."
CNN's Saad Abedine, Kareem Khadder, Salma Abdelaziz, Hamdi Alkhshali and Ian Lee contributed to this report.
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