Syria's mainstream political opposition said Saturday it supports planned peace talks sponsored by Russia and Turkey in the Kazakh capital later this month.

"Concerning the forthcoming meeting in Astana, the (High Negotiations) Committee stresses its support to the military delegation... and expresses hope that the meeting would reinforce the truce," an HNC statement said after a two-day meeting in Riyadh.

Despite backing opposite sides in the Syrian conflict, Russia and Turkey have worked closely in recent weeks to broker a nationwide ceasefire aimed at laying the ground for the January 23 peace talks in Astana.

It is not yet clear which groups have been invited to attend.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said on Thursday there was "no precise information" on participants for now.

The HNC expressed hope that the talks would "establish a phase of confidence" through the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254, especially articles concerning ending sieges of cities and towns, delivering aid and releasing detainees.

The HNC said it "appreciates efforts" to make the Astana talks fruitful, adding that the meeting represents a step that "paves the way for political talks" in Geneva next month.

The statement stressed that "discussing the political track... should be held under the UN sponsorship and supervision."

The HNC is the main Syrian opposition umbrella group and participated in previous peace talks in Geneva.

The ceasefire and planned talks are the latest effort to negotiate an end to a conflict that has killed more than 310,000 people since it began with anti-government protests in March 2011.

Moscow and Ankara brokered a deal that allowed civilians and rebels to leave the opposition enclave in Aleppo before regime troops took full control of the city last month.

Eight dead in raids on rebel-held Syrian town: monitor
Beirut (AFP) Jan 14, 2017 - Air strikes on a rebel-held town in northwestern Syria killed eight people on Saturday, a monitor said, the latest to hit the area where Al-Qaeda's former affiliate has a strong presence.

Most of those killed in the Idlib province town of Maarat Masrin were civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Their deaths came after those of three civilians, one of them a child, in strikes on the nearby town of Orum al-Joz late on Friday, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

He said the strikes were carried out by Russian or Syrian government aircraft.

The US-led coalition too has carried out air strikes on targets in Idlib province in recent weeks.

The Observatory says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.

A ceasefire brokered by regime ally Russia and rebel ally Turkey that went into effect on December 30 has brought relative calm to most of the country.

But it excludes former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham and its jihadist rival the Islamic State group.

Idlib province is largely controlled by a rebel alliance known as the Army of Conquest, which is dominated by Fateh al-Sham.

The ceasefire had been overshadowed by deadly fighting in the rebel-held Wadi Barada district, northwest of Damascus, which is the source of the capital's mains water supply.

But a local truce was agreed on Friday under which rebels pulled back to allow repair teams to enter to restore the supply, which had been cut since December 22.

The area was calm on Saturday for the first day since the nationwide ceasefire took effect late last year, the Observatory said.

"Maintenance workers began their work as soon as they entered (Wadi Barada) on Friday," a source in the provincial governor's office told AFP.

He said they were still assessing the damage and would then have to prepare the necessary equipment before being able to restore the supply.

The United Nations says that 5.5 million people in Damascus and its suburbs have been without mains water because of the cut.