"Top-level" meetings between US, UN and Russian officials will take place in Geneva on 20 December to discuss the required arrangements for the Geneva II peace conference on Syria which will take place in January, the Arab League's deputy secretary-general said on Monday.

Ahmed Ben Helli, however, expressed doubts concerning the holding of the international conference, scheduled for 22 January, due to the non-finalisation of some political measures.

"I am not optimistic about this date. The Arab League exerts huge efforts to include as many political currents as possible under the Syrian National Coalition's delegation. The aim is to achieve credibility whether inside or outside Syria," he said.

Helli said that he expressed such concerns to members of the Council of the European Union who he met with on Monday.

Foreign ministers of the Arab League gathered in Cairo last month to push the Syrian opposition to attend the proposed conference after three years of an ongoing civil war in the country.

The opposition, which before had rejected to join the conference unless Bashar Al-Assad leaves power, announced recently that it would attend on the condition that they lead a transitional phase that excludes all members of the current regime.

UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi has said that Geneva II would not be possible without the participation of the Syrian opposition.

Syria's deputy foreign minister Faisal Muqdad said that Al-Assad has to approve any solution for the Syrian crisis and lashed out at Western calls for Al-Assad to step down, AFP reported on Saturday.  

"The Syrian (government) delegation at Geneva will be working under Assad's directives, and any solutions proposed will have no impact unless Assad approves of them," Muqdad asserted.