Syria’s Assad Will Consider U.N. Cease-fire Proposal

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will consider a U.N.-backed proposal for a cease-fire in the warn-torn northern city of Aleppo, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“The Syrian government views the U.N. idea as “worth studying … in order to attain its aims to return security to the city of Aleppo,” according to state media.

The message came after Assad met in Damascus with Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, who is trying to put together a plan for local cease-fire or “incremental freeze zones” across Syria in an attempt to halt the fighting in the country and provide humanitarian aid to civilians.

Aleppo is currently under siege from several directions: on three sides by the Assad regime and by ISIS on the other.

It has witnessed almost daily regime airstrikes, including barrel bombs, with many civilian casualties.

Mistura says Aleppo would be a “good candidate” to become a freeze zone.

Two previous U.N. envoys have failed to negotiate an end to the conflict in Syria.

Syria’s Children, Living Under Siege, Are Malnourished and Desperate for Aid

Al Jazeera reports on the “bucket children” of eastern Ghouta, a Damascus suburb that is suffering from a drastic food shortage after more than two years of siege.

Eastern Ghouta, the site of a chemical attack in August 2013, is one of the few swaths of territory held by the Free Syrian Army in the Damascus area. Food has been scarce since 2012 and schools are shut down due to lack of water, heat or electricity. Residents claim they are suffering from collective punishment by the regime.

An estimated 240,000 people are living under siege in Syria, according to U.N. figures.

“Sending their children out with buckets to collect food has become a last resort for overburdened parents in Eastern Ghouta,” Al Jazeera reports.

“I don’t send my children out in the streets to ask for food, but at the same time I don’t stop them either,” Refat, a mother of two children, said. A doctor told the network that children regularly come into his office with symptoms of severe malnourishment.

The World Food Programme has been pushing for access to communities under siege, but in many cases, aid can only be delivered under the government’s discretion. According to UNICEF, Syria is now one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a child.

Five Nuclear Engineers Killed by Gunmen on the Outskirts of Damascus

“Gunmen killed five nuclear engineers, four of them Syrian and one Iranian, on the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday,” Reuters reports.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack that killed the engineers while traveling to a research center near the northeastern district of Barzeh.

According to the U.N. Nuclear watchdog, IAEA, there are two nuclear centers on the outskirts of Damascus, including a Miniature Neutron Source Reactor, which Syria declared had a “small amount of nuclear material.”

Syria denies having any nuclear weapons ambitions.

The attack comes as the U.S., EU and Iran begin their second day of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Recommended Reads:

Guardian: Syrian Rebel Leader: U.S.-Led Attacks on ISIS are Undermining Anti-Assad Forces

Daily Star: Jumblatt Urges Syrian’s Druze to Join Anti-Assad Rebels

Human Rights Watch: Ukraine, Syria: Incendiary Weapons Threaten Civilians

Telegraph: Secrets of the Syrian Rebel Who Defected to ISIL

Newsweek: Inside the CIA’s Syrian Rebels Vetting Machine

BBC: Syria Conflict: U.N.’s Staffan de Mistura Hopeful for a Truce