Meanwhile, there was no letup in the embattled northern Syrian city of Aleppo, where Turkey and Russian Federation are supporting opposing sides of the conflict and where residents and activists reported a chlorine gas attack.
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A series of air strikes on Friday in opposition areas in Syria’s northern Aleppo province killed at least 18 people, including children and two hospital staffers, when the missiles hit an open market, a women and children’s hospital and a village, activists and rescue workers said.
A Syrian military official denied the allegations, saying militants had fabricated the news.
During a visit to Russia earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agreed to coordinate more closely in the fight in Syria.
Residents of western Aleppo said cutting the main supply route to the government side had slowed the entry of goods and fuel and driven up food prices, but a delivery by government forces via an alternative route this week provided some relief.
The city has been rocked by a recent surge in violence, with residents on both sides of the front line living in fear of being trapped by renewed hostilities.
Staffan de Mistura, a United Nations representative in the country, told reporters that there is a lot of evidence that it did take place.
“We support the proposals by the United Nations to establish joint control over the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of Aleppo along the Castello road”, he said.
But rebels and regime forces clashed in southern Aleppo today, including during the period when the pause was meant to take hold, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Aleppo is in the north of Syria and is the subject of a bitter fight between the rebel forces and those under the command of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
An estimated 1.5 million people live in Aleppo, including about 250,000 in rebel-held districts.
He said that a lot of time would be required because so many people were in need, requiring large convoys to travel the extremely risky Castello road, the last route into rebel-held parts of the city. The Russian military said six of its long-range bombers had flown from their base in Russia to strike IS facilities near Raqqa, but did not mention civilian casualties.
The last 15 doctors in war-ravaged Aleppo in eastern Syria are calling on President Obama to help bring an end to the bombardment of hospitals there, the BBC reports.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Thursday the reports of possible chemical weapons use in Syria were “of great concern”.
Further east, Russian raids hit the IS stronghold of Raqa, killing at least 24 civilians and wounding 70 people, according to the Britain-based Observatory.
“The Russian reaction here at the taskforce was “we heard you, (and) we need to talk in order to see how we can improve our original proposal”, he said.
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Its defence ministry said ISIL suffered “significant material damages” in the strikes and that “a large number of fighters have been killed”.
