Russia says UN must urge al-Qaida militants to leave Aleppo

AP , Friday 14 Oct 2016

A senior Russian diplomat says a new United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria should include a U.N. envoy's proposal for the al-Qaida-linked militants to leave Aleppo.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday the resolution also must endorse provisions of a U.S.-Russian cease-fire deal that fell apart amid a Syrian army offensive on Aleppo.

Gatilov told the Interfax news agency that U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura's proposal for the Fatah al-Sham Front to leave Aleppo in exchange for a halt in Russian and Syrian army attacks should be part of the U.N. resolution.

The militant group already has rejected de Mistura's suggestion.

Gatilov spoke a day before a meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and their counterparts from several other nations.

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