Syrian opposition leader offers to talk, with conditions DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The top Syrian opposition leader offered for the first time to talk with Bashar Assad's government, but set two conditions. Sheik Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib said his offer was conditioned on the government meeting two demands: the release of 160,000 prisoners held by the government and the renewal of all expired passports held by Syrians abroad, The New York Times reported. The newspaper said the passport demand apparently was to help expatriates and exiled opposition leaders who could not travel to Syria even if they wanted. The offer was posted on Khatib's Facebook page. The Times said it quickly drew criticism from others in the Syrian opposition coalition, saying Khatib had not consulted with them in advance. In the face of the criticism, the sheik said he was only expressing a personal opinion. There was no was no immediate comment from the Syrian government. The Times said Khatib is a respected Sunni cleric, once the imam of the historic Umayyad mosque in Damascus. His coalition, has been formally recognized by the Arab League, the European Union and the United States. Also Wednesday, world leaders met in Kuwait to try to raise $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid for Syria as activists reported Syrian planes bombed several cities. Syria's state-run media reported government forces killed dozens of terrorists -- the government's term for anti-government forces -- outside Damascus. The United Nations and world leaders meeting in Kuwait discussed shortfalls in aid for refugees, CNN reported. So far, only a fraction of the funding for 2013 has been received, U.N. officials said, limiting the ability of U.N. agencies and their partners to reach people "who desperately need help."