Syria's civil war: Russia says ready for Aleppo pause

Almost 2 million people in Aleppo have been without running water for nearly two weeks

Moscow says supports plan for 48-hour truce in battered city but lays out conditions before any agreement can take hold.

Russia has said it would support a 48-hour ceasefire in Syria's Aleppo, a move the United Nations envoy said would allow aid to reach besieged areas soon, as long as all sides respected the truce.

As viral images of a dazed child pulled from rubble in the heavily bombarded rebel-held east of the city captured the plight of its civilians and drew the attention of the world, Moscow said it was ready to start the first "humanitarian pause" next week.


Western diplomats gave a cautious welcome to the announcement, but stressed that the UN must be in charge of a sustained aid operation.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has long called for a 48-hour halt in fighting each week to allow aid delivery and medical evacuations from both rebel-held eastern and government-controlled western Aleppo.

"The Russian defence ministry has laid out several conditions for a weekly 48-hour pause in fighting," said Al Jazeera's Reza Sayah, reporting from the Gaziantep on the Turkish-Syrian border.

"It says it's willing to support the plan as a 'pilot programme' for the city of Aleppo only. That suggests Russia is not ready to back an indefinite weekly pause in violence. It also suggests there's plenty for all sides to negotiate before the plan goes into effect."