An afternoon session in talks to end the war in Syria was cancelled on Tuesday, the opposition delegation said, citing differences over the goal of the talks.
"(International mediator) Lakhdar Brahimi cancelled the afternoon talks to give (Ibrahim) Jaafari time to think over Geneva 1," opposition negotiator Ahmed Jakal told Reuters, referring to the Syrian government chief negotiator.
"There is deep resistance by the regime to move the discussions onto the question of a transitional government."
Siege on pro-Assad towns:
This as the Syrian opposition's spokesman said that the Syrian opposition is willing to lift a siege on three pro-government villages in the north of the country as part of a wider agreement to relieve besieged towns on both sides.
Louay al-Safi told reporters at the end of a morning session of talks in Geneva that Free Syrian Army fighters are willing to relieve pressure on the Shi'ite Muslim villages of Nubl, al-Zahra and al-Foua.
But he said President Bashar al-Assad's government has not agreed to lift the siege on the rebel-held Old City of Homs, seen as crucial for the success of any deal.
"We asked the regime to lift the siege from all cities and we agreed to lift any siege by the FSA from any town and city in Syria. There are three that are surrounded by the FSA because they have been used as a launching pad from the regime to attack Aleppo," Safi said.
WFP:
The United Nations food agency is ready to deliver a month of rations to the Old City of Homs in Syria for 2,500 people once it gets a green light from all sides, a World Food Program (WFP) spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
The U.N. hub in Homs is preparing an inter-agency aid convoy carrying food and other supplies for the besieged population in the rebel-held city, she said in response to a query.
On the field:
A suicide bomber from an al Qaeda-linked rebel group killed 13 soldiers in an attack on the Syrian defense minister's hometown, an opposition monitoring group said on Tuesday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a Saudi militant who came to Syria to fight with the country's al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, blew himself up late on Monday at an army checkpoint in the village of Rahjan in central Hama province.
Syria's nearly three-year conflict began as peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule but has devolved into civil war that has killed more than 130,000 and brought violence to every region.
Rahjan, in a remote eastern part of Hama, is the ancestral home of Defence Minister Fahd al-Freij, who is now living in the capital Damascus.
"This is a message from the Nusra fighters to Freij: 'You cannot protect your own relatives,'" said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Observatory, a Britain-based group with a network of sources across Syria.
Freij is a Sunni Muslim and Rahjan is largely Sunni, another reason the attack by Sunni militants was unusual in a civil war that has become increasingly sectarian and drawn foreign militants to join the opposing sides.
The uprising has been led by Syria's majority Sunnis. Assad is from the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, and has been largely supported by Syrian minorities.
Shi'ite groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah are helping Assad. But some Sunnis, such as Freij, continue to back Assad.
Abdelrahman said the attack by the suicide bomber, who blew himself up in an explosives-rigged car, sparked clashes around Rahjan between the army and rebels that raged until dawn on Tuesday. Five Nusra fighters and were killed as were three combatants from other rebel groups, he said.