Russia's Lavrov says Syrian militants using ceasefires to regroup

MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained on Monday that Syrian militants had used temporary ceasefires in fighting in and around Aleppo to regroup and rearm.

Lavrov, speaking at a news conference in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said he realised that brief daily ceasefires in place now to allow aid to enter and civilians to leave were not sufficient.

But he said it was difficult to make the ceasefires longer for the moment because of the risk of militants using them to regroup and rearm, something he said they had done in the past.