Syrian government steps up attacks on Idlib province

“These kinds of pauses have been used by fighters to reinforce their ammunition and to strengthen their positions and this will only worsen the suffering of civilians”, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

Two Russian nurses have been killed by rebel shelling at a makeshift field hospital in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Russian officials say.

“As soon as these routes and timeframes are agreed on, a ceasefire can come into effect”, Lavrov said.

The developments were a blow to Russian Federation, which has been one of the staunchest supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country’s bitter civil war, now in its sixth year.

Earlier in the day, the UN Security Council ignored Russian calls to postpone the vote on the draft resolution on a ceasefire in Syria’s city of Aleppo.

Russia, a key ally of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, has been carrying out air strikes against rebels since September 2015.

Elsewhere in Syria, activists reported a series of airstrikes in the opposition-held town of Kafranbel, some 80km from Aleppo.

“Our response to the Americans was as follows: we can not leave our city, our homes, to the mercenary militias that the regime has mobilised in Aleppo”, said Malahifji, the head of the political office of an Aleppo rebel group.

“The regime is draining the rebel fighters of ammunition by opening many fronts at the same time”, he said.

He added that residents were going down into basements, where available, or cowering in the entryways of buildings in the hope of remaining safe during the heavy bombardment.

Twenty-four people were killed and more than 85 were injured in eastern Aleppo on Sunday in airstrikes and shelling, according to the Aleppo Media Center activist group.

The United Nations says more than 200,000 people might still be trapped in rebel-held areas of Aleppo, which are affected by severe food and aid shortages.

In brutal attacks over the past three weeks, they have been driven out of much of the eastern Aleppo stronghold that they have occupied since 2012.

East Aleppo has been besieged by government forces since mid-July, with global aid stocks exhausted and food supplies dwindling.

More than 100,000 individuals may be under siege in districts still under control, where are no operating hospitals.

Russian And Syrian Soldiers In Aleppo, Syria.

He added that the vote should have been postponed until a meeting of Russian and United States experts on Tuesday or Wednesday in Geneva.

“There’s nothing in it and the house is destroyed. There were limbs and bodies all over the ground”, said Ahmad al-Sheikho of the Civil Defense, who said he arrived at the Maaret al-Nouman marketplace ten minutes after it was struck.

Russia’s military said last month it was resuming airstrikes on the northwestern Idlib province, where Kafranbel is located, and in the central Homs province in support of government forces.

One female medic was killed on the spot when a shell hit the reception area of the hospital, while a second died from her wounds later, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.