Syria urgently needs minimum 48-hour pause in fighting

A pause in fighting of at least 48 hours is urgently needed in Syria, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien said during a Security Council meeting on Thursday, Sputnik writes.

"If we can’t get the cessation of hostilities, then there is a minimum of a week to 48-hour pause. Anything else will leave this Council today on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of avoidable deaths,” said O’Brien, who also serves as the United Nations’ emergency relief coordinator. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Thursday that Moscow's proposal to introduce a 48-hour humanitarian pause in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo is still on the table.