BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the developments in Syria's civil war (all times local):
5:20 p.m.
The Russian military says it's ready to back a U.N. call for weekly 48-hour cease-fires to allow humanitarian aid deliveries to the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov says that Russia would back the initiative on condition that the aid convoys should travel to both rebel-controlled and government-controlled parts of the city.
He says Russia was ready to support aid deliveries starting next week.
Konashenkov on Thursday also added that specific dates could be determined upon coordination with the United Nations and after receiving guarantees of safe passage of the convoys from the U.S.
He says aid could be sent from Gaziantep in Turkey to the eastern part of Aleppo via Castello road. He says another route to the western part of Aleppo would run from Handarat and further along the Castello road.
5 p.m.
The Russian military says its warplanes have flown from Iran for a third straight day to strike targets in Syria.
The Russian Defense Ministry says the Tu-22M3 and the Su-34 bombers flew from bases in Russia and Iran on Thursday to target the Islamic State group's facilities in Syria's eastern province of Deir el-Zour.
It said that the raid struck five ammunition and fuel facilities, six command facilities and "destroyed a large number of militants, artillery and armor."
Russia first announced on Tuesday that its planes started flying combat missions from Iran against targets in Syria, a move that represented a historical rapprochement between Moscow and Tehran that could rile U.S.-allied Gulf neighbors, strengthen Syrian President Bashar Assad and impact the war against the Islamic State group.
9 a.m.
Syrian opposition activists have released haunting footage showing a young boy rescued from a partially destroyed building in the aftermath of a devastating airstrike in Aleppo.
The image of the stunned and weary-looking boy, sitting in an orange chair inside an ambulance, covered in dust and with blood on his face, encapsulates the horrors inflicted on the war-ravaged northern city. Photographs of the boy were widely shared on social media.
An hour after his rescue, the building the boy was in completely collapsed.
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