U.N. Envoy Meets Syria Opposition Leader

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met Sunday in Cairo with Syrian opposition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib and urged him to keep seeking dialog with the Damascus government, the U.N. said.

Brahimi met with Khatib and the vice president of the National Coalition, Riad Seif.

Brahimi "reiterated his support for this initiative" by Khatib and "encouraged the Coalition to continue in this direction," said a U.N. statement.

Khatib said in late January he was prepared to hold direct talks with regime representatives that did not have "blood on their hands," and so long as the discussions addressed replacing Assad.

The Assad regime said it was open to talks but with no pre-conditions.