Syria's government will "in principle" attend multilateral talks planned for June in Geneva and believes the conference will be an opportunity to resolve the country's conflict, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Sunday.

Russia and the United States are sponsoring a proposed peace conference planned for next month on the war, which has killed 80,000 people and risks spilling over its borders and stirring regional sectarian violence.

Washington is pushing opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to unite before the conference, but the fractious group has been hampered by power struggles during talks in Istanbul over their leadership during the past few days.