Syria conflict: Russia hopes to extend truce to Aleppo

Image copyrightAFP

Image caption

• 
  

Russia's foreign minister says a unilateral truce declared by the Syrian military could be extended to the city of Aleppo "in the next few hours".

Sergei Lavrov said Russia was working with the UN and US to include Aleppo in the "regime of calm" that has covered Damascus and Latakia since Saturday.

But Mr Lavrov warned that rebels would have to leave areas where allied jihadist militants were being targeted.

More than 250 people have been killed in Aleppo in the past 10 days.

About two-thirds of those deaths have been in the rebel-held eastern side of the city, including 50 in an air strike on a hospital the US says was deliberate.

On Tuesday, 14 people were killed by rebel rocket fire in government-controlled areas of Aleppo, including three in an attack on a hospital, state media reported.

• Aleppo's 'last paediatrician' dead
• Russia's continuing war
• Has opportunity for peace been lost?
• What is left of Syria?

The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, travelled to Moscow on Tuesday to discuss efforts to urgently rescue the nationwide cessation of hostilities in Syria, which the US and Russia negotiated at the end of February.

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionThe Red Cross has warned that Aleppo is being pushed to the brink of a humanitarian disaster

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionAbout two-thirds of the recent deaths in Aleppo have been in the rebel-held eastern areas

After holding talks with the Italian-Swedish diplomat, Mr Lavrov told reporters that he expected a decision on including Aleppo in the separate regime of calm "in the very near future - maybe in the next few hours".

The unilateral truce had been effect in Latakia and the eastern Ghouta region around Damascus since the weekend thanks to the efforts of the Russian and US militaries, he said.

The aim of Russian, US and UN negotiators was to extend the regime of calm and "ideally make it indefinite", Mr Lavrov added.