Attacks can stop if Aleppo cleared of civilians, says Russia

Russia is ready to halt its airstrikes in Aleppo if civilians leave the opposition-held areas in the province, the country's defense ministry said Wednesday. "The Russian and Syrian governments are ready to restart humanitarian truces in Aleppo if the international organizations guarantee they will evacuate civilians and the wounded from the areas controlled by armed groups," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters in Moscow. Hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed or injured in Russian and Syrian airstrikes since Sept. 19, when the Bashar al-Assad regime announced the end of a week-long truce.

On Friday, Russia's envoy to the UN in Geneva announced that the "humanitarian pause" in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo had been extended until Oct. 24.

Airstrikes in Syria killed 17 people, mostly children yesterday when warplanes struck a school complex in the northern opposition-held province of Idlib, activists said. The Idlib News network said the strikes hit as the children were gathered outside the school complex in the village of Hass. The activist-operated group put the death toll at 17, and said most of the victims were children.

There were fears the death toll could rise further as some of the wounded were reported to be in critical condition, the network added. Another activist group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 22. It said 14 children and a woman were among those killed.

Idlib, the main Syrian opposition stronghold, has regularly been hit by the Bashar al-Assad forces as well as the U.S.-led coalition targeting Daesh militants.