Syrian state media: Government 'ready to participate' in peace talks hosted by Moscow

Hadi Bahra, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, the country's main political opposition group, leaves a meeting with Arab League's Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby at the league's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (The Associated Press)

prev next

The Arab League's Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, right, meets with Hadi Bahra, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, the country's main political opposition group, left, and Haitham al-Maleh, a member of the group, second left, at the league's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (The Associated Press)

Hadi Bahra, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, the country's main political opposition group, speaks during a press conference following his meeting with the Arab League's Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby at the league's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (The Associated Press)

BEIRUT – Syrian state media says the government is prepared to attend peace talks that Moscow plans to hold next month.

On Saturday it cited a foreign ministry official as saying that the government is "ready to participate in preparatory, advisory meetings in Moscow" that would "answer the aspirations of Syrians to find an exit from the crisis," in a series of written messages alerted on television.

State media did not name the foreign official.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it hoped to host peace talks after Jan. 20 between the Syrian government and its fractured opposition.

Syria is in the fourth year of a conflict that has claimed over 200,000 lives and displaced a third of its population.