Russia says will consider UN ceasefire in Syria

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow will consider supporting a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Syria if it does not cover fighters from the Islamic State group and the al-Qaeda-linked Levant Liberation Committee.

Lavrov’s statement this afternoon 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 says in comments relayed by Russian news agencies that Russia is proposing the wording for the UN resolution that would exclude the IS, the al-Qaeda linked group as well as unspecified “groups that cooperate with them and systematically shell residential areas of Damascus.”

— AP