The UN mediator at the Geneva peace talks, Lakhdar Brahimi, says the Syrian government has agreed to let women and children leave the besieged town of Homs.
The rebel-held districts in the Old City of Homs have been under siege since June 2012, with many residents trapped in dire conditions.
The undertaking to relieve their plight was given during the second day of face-to-face talks in Geneva aimed at ending the almost three-year conflict.
Mr Brahimi also says the opposition had agreed to give the government lists of detainees held by armed groups that it had authority over or contact with.
"What we have been told by the government side is that women and children in this besieged area of the city are welcome to leave immediately," he said.
"Hopefully starting tomorrow, women and children will be able to leave the Old City in Homs. Other civilians are also welcome to leave, but the government needs a list of their names first."
Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Muqdad confirmed that women and children would be allowed to leave but blamed rebel forces for preventing that.
"I have been personally involved over the past two years to get these women and children out of the Old City of Homs. But we could not," Mr Muqdad told reporters.
"In all these attempts we have been prevented by the armed groups, who did not allow a single person out," he said.
Mr Brahimi is calling on the international community to lift sanctions on Syria.
He says the negotiations will take time and are best dealt with at a slow, considered pace.
"If you run you may gain one hour and lose one week. So we are going slow," Mr Brahimi said.
"I hope that we will continue to be going slow. So far I think that the process is continuing but it's very early days," he said.
The apparent but limited breakthrough in negotiations has come on the second day of sessions held to negotiate humanitarian measures, before the much tougher discussions about the handover of political power comes in the next day.
ABC/AFP
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