Abu Malek ? one of the survivors of a chemical attack in the Ghouta region of Damascus that took place in 2013 ? uses his crutches to walk along a street in the Ghouta town of Ain Tarma, Syria, April 7, 2017. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh/Files

 

BEIRUT: The two major rebel factions in Syria?s eastern Ghouta welcomed on Saturday a UN resolution demanding a 30-day truce across the country to allow aid access and medical evacuations.

In separate statements, Jaish al-Islam and Failaq al-Rahman pledged to protect aid convoys that come into the besieged rebel enclave near Damascus.

The insurgents said they would commit to a truce but would respond to any violation by the Syrian government and its allies.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted the resolution on Saturday, as one of the deadliest air assaults of the seven-year war pounded eastern Ghouta this week.

UNSC delays vote on Syria ceasefire resolution

A draft resolution aimed at ending the carnage in Syria will be put up for a vote in the 15-member council

Earlier, on Friday, the UNSC had delayed a vote on a demand for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria, where pro-government warplanes have been pounding the last rebel bastion near Damascus in one of the deadliest bombing campaigns of the seven-year civil war.

The 24-hour delay followed a flurry of last-minute negotiations on the text drafted by Sweden and Kuwait after Russia ? a veto-holding ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ? had proposed new amendments on Friday.

?Unbelievable that Russia is stalling a vote on a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access in Syria,? US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley posted on Twitter.

Talks centred on the paragraph demanding a cessation of hostilities for 30 days to allow aid access and medical evacuations.