Syria's state-run news agency says President Bashar al-Assad has traveled to the country's Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs, a former rebel stronghold.

Baba Amr was the site of a month-long siege by government forces who battled rebel fighters before driving them out. Hundreds of people were killed in the fighting there.

The UN says more than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria's yearlong uprising.