17/01/2014 14:50
Syria conflict: Government offers prisoner exchange
Syria's foreign minister has said Damascus is ready to offer a prisoner exchange with rebels, the BBC reported.
Speaking in Moscow, Walid Muallem also said he had presented a ceasefire plan for the second city Aleppo to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
The moves came as the opposition Syrian National Coalition prepares to meet in Istanbul to decide whether to go to next week's peace conference.
The coalition is under Western pressure to participate in the Geneva II talks.
However, many of its members have already pulled out.
Some are reluctant to go unless President Bashar al-Assad is excluded from any transitional government, but Damascus says there should be no pre-conditions for the talks.
The three-year conflict has claimed more than 100,000 lives.
An estimated two million people have fled the country and some 6.5 million have been internally displaced.
Mr Muallem said he was ready to exchange lists of prisoners.
"I informed Lavrov of our principled position in favour of an agreement to exchange those held in Syrian prisons for those taken by the other side," he said.
"We are ready to exchange lists and develop the necessary mechanism for accomplishing these goals."
The Syrian foreign minister added that he had given Russia a ceasefire plan for Aleppo, which he said he wanted to "serve as an example to other towns."