UK's Hague urges Syria opposition to join Geneva talks

Syria's moderate opposition should "commit itself fully" to planned peace talks, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has said after talks in London.

Planned talks in Geneva next month offered Syrians the "best hope to improve their lives", Mr Hague said.

He was speaking after Arab and Western foreign ministers had gathered to meet Syrian opposition officials.

A key group in Syria's main opposition alliance has threatened to boycott the planned meeting, dubbed Geneva II.

Earlier Mr Hague had said that bolstering Syria's moderate opposition was crucial to excluding extremists from power in the war-gripped country.

The Syrian National Council (SNC) has been unwilling to talk to representatives of Bashar al-Assad's government.

Ministers believe unity is vital among the fractured groups of Syria's armed and political opposition if peace talks are to have any chance of success.