Syria's exiled opposition is due to finally decide Saturday whether to join international peace talks next week after Damascus offered concessions including a ceasefire plan for the battered city of Aleppo.

The talks opening January 22 are aimed at setting up a transitional government to find a way out of the brutal conflict that has killed 130,000 people and made millions homeless since March 2011 .

In a surprise move in Moscow on Friday, Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem presented his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov with a security plan aimed at halting "all military actions" in the devastated northern city of Aleppo.

Jihadists on Friday withdrew from Saraqeb, their last bastion in the Syrian province of Idlib, five days into a major battle against local rebels, a monitor said.

The fighting also spilled across the Lebanese border, with eight people, including five children, killed when shells fired from Syria rained down on the border town of Arsal, officials said.

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