The UN mediator at Syrian peace talks in Geneva hopes that President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the opposition will agree to send humanitarian aid into Homs today.

Lakhdar Brahimi says a convoy is ready to help the hundreds of familes trapped in the rubble-strewn city without regular access to food and medicine.

Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad says the aid must not go to rebels, who he is blaming for the destruction of Homs:

Mr Brahimi says he is aware progress is slow but he's hopeful of a breakthrough in the three year civil conflict, "To bring Syria out of the ditch in which it has fallen will take time. I think slow is a better way of going fast. If you run you may gain one hour and lose one week'.

Homs evacuation

Meanwhile, yesterday a deal was agreed that will see women and children allowed to leave the besieged city of Homs. 

Homs, one of the first cities to rise against President Bashar Assad, had a pre-war population of one million, but most residents have fled.

Activists say about 800 families are trapped in the rubble-strewn city, without regular access to food, medicine and basic necessities.

"The regime is blocking all convoys to Homs and has been doing so for months," said a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the peace talks.

"The situation in Homs is extremely urgent. Anything the government says to the contrary is false."

The deal is being seen as the first tangible - if limited - sign of progress in talks aimed at ending a war which has so far claimed 130,000 lives and made two million people refugees.

The talks have yet to touch upon Mr Assad's future.

The thorniest topic - a possible transitional government - will not come up until at least Monday, Mr Brahimi said.