Thirty-Day Syria Ceasefire Approved By UN

Image: Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images.

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire across Syria "without delay" to deliver humanitarian aid to millions and evacuate the critically ill and wounded.

The sponsors, Kuwait and Sweden, amended the resolution late on Friday in a last-minute attempt to get Russian support, dropping a demand that the ceasefire take effect in 72 hours.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia had said repeatedly that an immediate ceasefire was unrealistic, while Sweden's UN Ambassador Olof Skoog said before the vote that the resolution could de-escalate violence and save lives.

"The UN convoys and evacuation teams are ready to go," he said.

As she headed into the meeting, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said:

"Today we are going to see if Russia has a conscience."

There is no set time for the ceasefire to take effect, but the resolution demands that it be followed immediately by access for humanitarian convoys and medical teams to evacuate the critically ill and wounded.

The resolution states that 5.6 million people in 1,244 communities are in "acute need", including 2.9 million in hard-to-reach and besieged locations.

It calls for all parties to immediately lift the sieges of populated areas including eastern Ghouta, Yarmouk, Foua and Kefraya.

The Security Council authorised one exemption from the ceasefire.

It said attacks directed at extremists from the Islamic State group and all al Qaida affiliates, including the Nusra Front, will be allowed to continue.

The move came after a new wave of air strikes and shelling on eastern suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus left at least 22 people dead and dozens wounded, raising the death toll of a week of bombing in the area to 500.