Summary
Syria's main opposition group agreed to travel to Geneva, where the United Nations Friday opened peace talks to end the country's war, but said it wanted to discuss humanitarian issues before engaging in political negotiations.
U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura invited the Syrian government and an opposition umbrella group to Geneva for "proximity talks," in which they would meet in separate rooms.
The HNC said it had drawn up a list of 3,000 Syrian women and children in government prisons who should be released.
De Mistura opened the talks Friday by meeting the Syrian regime delegation.
The Syrian government delegation, headed by U.N. Ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, arrived at the talks Friday afternoon but made no statement.
The previous talks in 2014 failed partly because Syria's government insisted on discussing "terrorism" before anything else, a label that it applied to all its opponents.
De Mistura said the government delegation, led by Syria's Jaafari, had again brought up terrorism in the first session Friday.
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