Russian, Syrian Forces Halt Strikes on Aleppo over 'Humanitarian Pause'

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said the air forces of Russia and Syria will stop pounding the Syrian city of Aleppo to usher in the "humanitarian pause" successfully on October 20.

There will be six corridors for civilians to leave, and two other will be available for rebels for the time of the pause, TASS news agency quotes him as saying.

He has also called on countries "having an influence over armed groups in the Eastern parts of Aleppo... to convince their leaders to suspend military action and leave the city."

Moscow believes the idea is to "separate terrorists from the moderate opposition", allowing the former to leave the east of Aleppo.

Earlier, Russia's permanent UN envoy Vitaly Churkin noted that his country had unilaterally announced the 8-hour ceasefire due on Thursday.

Activists in eastern Aleppo confirmed airstrikes ended around dawn, in line with what the Russians announced, DPA has said.

Some 250 000 civilians in Aleppo are thought to be in need of humanitarian supplies.