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US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Syria's opposition to join next week's peace talks, the BBC reported.

The main political opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, meets in Istanbul on Friday to vote on whether to go to the talks.

Mr Kerry stressed the aim of the so-called Geneva II talks was to begin the process of setting up a transitional government to end the war in Syria.

The three-year conflict has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people.

An estimated two million people have fled the country and some 6.5 million have been internally displaced.

"The United States urges a positive vote," Mr Kerry said ahead of the Syrian National Coalition's meeting.

He described the 21 January peace conference in Switzerland as the beginning of a process "that is the best opportunity for the opposition to achieve the goals of the Syrian people and the revolution."

"It is about establishing a process essential to the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers, established by mutual consent," Mr Kerry also said.

"It is the only way to bring about an end to the civil war that has triggered one of the planet's most severe humanitarian disasters, and which has created the seeding grounds for extremism."

Mr Kerry stressed that only people "agreed by both the opposition and the regime" would be considered for a role in any future transitional government.