Military solution not way forward for Aleppo: UN official

As fighting continues to rage in war-torn Syria, the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura on Thursday warned that militarization of the ongoing conflict is untenable if a peaceful solution is to be reached between factions at war.

"No sustainable military solution is possible in Aleppo or anywhere else in Syria," De Mistura said after a weekly humanitarian taskforce meeting here.

This statement comes amid ongoing clashes between factions vying to control the strategically and symbolically important Aleppo, once Syria's largest city.

Residents trapped in both eastern and western parts of the war-ravaged city, northern Syria, have been particularly hard-hit by food and medical shortages. The lack of running water and electricity has further compounded the dire situation on the ground.

Aid groups have been unable to carry out critical relief operations because of intensified fighting. A Russian pledge to implement a daily three-hour ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to access the city's desperate people was deemed insufficient by the UN.

"First of all, we the UN were not consulted. Secondly, three hours is not enough," De Mistura said, adding that the Russians do seem open to the idea of discussing further plans to see if the initiative can be improved upon.

The UN has been calling for a 48-hour truce to be set up to cater to the pressing needs of the two million people living in Aleppo.

Despite protracted violence, the envoy iterated his intention to resume Syrian peace talks towards the end of August seeking to broker a political end to the five-year conflict.

The UN-mediated negotiations have been on hold since April this year. Endit