'I am ready for peace talks': Asad tells Pope Francis

Bashar al-Assad has said his government is ready to participate in next month's peace talks. He stated this in a message to Pope Francis but however pointed out that outside countries must stop supporting what he called terrorist groups in the country's civil war, Syria's state-run news agency said Saturday.

The Syrian President sent the message through intermediaries as he expressed appreciation for how the Roman Catholic Pontiff urged an end to the violence and suffering in Syria while delivering his Christmas message, state-run SANA reported.

"The message also highlighted that stopping terrorism requires having the countries which are involved in supporting the armed terrorist groups stop providing any sort of military, logistic or training support, noting that this support was provided by some of Syria's neighbors and other known countries in the Middle East and abroad," SANA said.

Asad's message said that "the crisis will be solved through national dialogue among the Syrians and under a Syrian leadership without foreign intervention as to enable the Syrians to determine their future and leadership through ballots."

The message was delivered during a meeting between Syrian Minister of State Joseph Sweid and the Pope's secretary of state, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, SANA said.

Parolin told Sweid that the pope "is constantly following the situation in Syria" and "Pope Francis affirms the need to solve the crisis in Syria through dialogue among the Syrians without foreign intervention," SANA said.

The papacy confirmed the communique, saying the Syrian leader's "delegation brought a message from President Assad to the Holy Father and explained the position of the Syrian government," the Vatican's website said.

The details of the message to the pope were also posted on the Syrian presidency's Twitter account, indicating that the Syrian people "are the only rightful owners in deciding on his future through their choices at the ballot boxes."

The civil war in Syria as left many people helpless. On Saturday  at least 25 people in a rebel-held area of the Syrian city of Aleppo were killed in an airstrike, a Syrian opposition group said.

Government helicopters dropped barrel bombs striking a vegetable market and and an area near a hospital in the neighborhood of Tariq Al-Bab, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in statement. The group also reported that women and children were among the casualties.