BEIRUT: Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad returned home Friday following a four-day visit to China in an effort to push for a political resolution to the Syria issue.

Syria’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel-Karim Ali met Meqdad at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport after arriving from China at midday Friday. Meqdad then travelled by land to Damascus.

Syria's opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib has offered to hold talks with the Damascus government in a bid to end the nearly two-year conflict.

China and Russia back Syrian President Bashar Assad. Both have vetoed U.N. Security Council resolutions that would have put bigger pressure on Assad’s regime.

The Syria crisis, which broke out with peaceful protests in March 2011, has left more than 60,000 people killed, according to the U.N.