(VOVworld)- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said peace talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana next week will focus on enforcing a cessation of hostilities to allow aid access across Syria.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) at a meeting with Iraqi national security advisor Faleh al-Fayad in Damascus on January 5, 2017. (Archive photo: EPA/VNA)

Assad told Japanese television channel TBS that a truce is needed to protect lives and allow humanitarian aid to reach needy areas in Syria.

Assad said he believes that the Astana talks will allow armed opposition groups to join the national reconciliation process. The Syrian government has made a number of local deals under which rebels will evacuate certain areas in exchange for an end to bombardments or sieges. President Assad said if a similar deal is struck in Astana, opposition fighters will “lay down their arms and receive an amnesty from the government.”