Russia says will consider UN cease-fire in war-torn Syria
Russia is ready to consider a 30-day ceasefire in Syria but only if it does not cover Daesh, Nusra Front and other groups "who are shelling residential quarters of Damascus", Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
- World
- AP
- Published Date: 12:00 | 22 February 2018
- Modified Date: 04:18 | 22 February 2018
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow will consider supporting a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Syria if it does not cover fighters from the Daesh terror group and the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee.
Lavrov's Thursday statement comes amid a dire humanitarian crisis in the eastern suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus. Syrian opposition activists and paramedics on Thursday reported a fresh round of violence as bombing in rebel-held eastern Ghouta left 13 people dead.
Lavrov said in comments relayed by Russian news agencies on Thursday that Russia is proposing the wording for the U.N. resolution that would exclude the Daesh, the al-Qaida linked group as well as unspecified "groups that cooperate with them and systematically shell residential areas of Damascus."