MOSCOW/ANKARA/ISTANBUL: Russia said Wednesday that there would be daily three-hour cease-fires in Syria’s Aleppo starting Thursday to allow humanitarian convoys to enter the city safely, a proposal which the United Nations said it would consider. Speaking at a televised briefing, Lt. Gen. Sergey Rudskoi, a senior Russian Defense Ministry official, said the pause in fighting would run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time.

Rudskoi said the question of joint control over delivery of humanitarian aid via Castello Road was being discussed with the United Nations and the United States.

He said “all military action, air and artillery strikes” would be halted for the three-hour periods. “This is to ensure that all interested organizations have the opportunity to deliver their humanitarian assistance to the residents of Aleppo,” Rudskoi said.

He added that Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad against rebels in Syria’s 5-year-old civil war, would work with Damascus to ensure safe delivery of the aid.

Aleppo is split into rebel- and government-held areas. The rebel-held east, where about 300,000 people are thought to be living, came under siege in early July after government forces cut the Castello Road, the main supply route into the district.

Rebels Friday staged a major assault southwest of Aleppo to break through this siege. Fighters did manage to pierce the ring of government-controlled territory, but a safe corridor for civilians and aid has not yet been established as fierce fighting continues.

A spokesman for a major rebel group fighting inside Aleppo told Reuters it was skeptical of the Russian plan. “Is this publicity that Russia is a neutral party? What is three hours? In those three hours they will just be bombing [rebel-held] Idlib!” said Abd al-Salaam Abd al-Razzaq, military spokesman for the Nour al-Din al-Zinki insurgent group. Airstrikes killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens in rebel-held Idlib province, southwest of Aleppo, Wednesday. One Idlib town, Saraqeb, has received heavy daily airstrikes since a Russian helicopter was shot down nearby 10 days ago.

Concerns are growing for the roughly 300,000 people believed to be trapped inside eastern Aleppo, where food supplies, infrastructure and medical services are immensely strained.

United Nations aid chief Stephen O’Brien said Wednesday he was willing to consider the Russian plan, but that a 48-hour pause in fighting was needed to meet all the humanitarian needs in the Syrian city, Syria’s most populous before the war.

“At all times I will look at any kind of suggestion which enables humanitarian aid to be delivered,” he told reporters. “When we’re offered three hours then you have to ask what could be achieved in that three hours – is it to meet the need, or would it only just meet a very small part of the need? Clearly, from our point of view, we’re simply there to meet the need, all the need.”

Elsewhere, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu indicated that Turkey could find common ground with Russia on Syria, where they have been on opposing sides of the conflict. While Moscow backs Assad, Turkey says he is a dictator who must be removed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow Tuesday in an attempt to warm relations, which could have serious implications for the war in Syria.

“We think similarly regarding the cease-fire, humanitarian aid and [the need for] political resolution in Syria,” Cavusoglu said, although he added the two may think differently on how to implement the cease-fire.

He said Turkey was building a “strong mechanism” with Russia to find a solution in Syria, and a delegation including the Foreign Ministry, military and intelligence officials would go to Russia Wednesday for talks.