Syrian government and opposition delegations leave 10 days of peace talks with few results and a follow-up meeting uncertain, but analysts and negotiators say the discussions are an important beginning.

The immediate post-mortem on the talks from Syrian Foreign Minister was blunt.

"I regret to tell you that we have not reached tangible results during this week," he said as the talks wrapped up in Geneva on Friday.

Despite persistent pressure from UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, and cosponsors Russia and the United States, the two delegations failed to agree on a single point.

No ceasefire was inked, talks on a transitional government never began, and a mooted deal to allow aid into the besieged Old City of Homs went nowhere.

The failure to secure humanitarian access ranks among the larger disappointments of the talks, dashing hopes that the government might ease its blockade of besieged rebel-held enclaves as a show of good will.

In the end, the regime offered to allow women and children to leave the Old City of Homs, but aid convoys on standby to enter were left waiting. Other besieged enclaves' situations are in dire starights.

The talks have also done nothing to slow the pace of killing in Syria, where more than 130,000 people have been killed.

A second round of talks is proposed for Feburary 10, but regime participation has not been confirmed yet.

But despite the deadlock, Jarba confirmed that the opposition would attend the next round of talks, and Brahimi said there had been glimpses of common ground.

And reports that the US Congress has secretly approved resuming weapons deliveries to "moderate" rebels suggest the opposition gained something by attending the talks.