Syria's foreign minister says his government will attend planned Syrian peace talks "with every good intention" to reach a deal. But he says the Syrian opposition is setting preconditions.

Walid al-Moallem said in a TV interview Wednesday that U.N.-sponsored peace talks, tentatively to be launched next month in Geneva, present a "real opportunity" for ending the country's civil war.

Al-Moallem says Syria rejects the opposition's apparent condition for attending talks, that President Bashar Assad step down at the start of any transition period. Al-Moallem told the Lebanese TV station Al-Mayadeen that "only the Syrian people can decide who is to rule Syria."