Assad says he’ll analyze UN ceasefire offer

Syrian President Bashar Assad says a ceasefire proposal for the embattled northern city of Aleppo, which has been raised by the U.N. envoy to the country, is “worth studying.”

The official SANA news agency reported Assad’s remarks, saying they came during a meeting on Monday with the envoy, Staffan de Mistura.

De Mistura, who is on a three-day visit to Syria, has appealed for what he called “local cease-fires” in Aleppo, the last major city where rebels still hold large parts and neighbourhoods as they battle government forces.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Assad’s remarks reflect a change in the government’s stance. A pro-government Syrian newspaper accused the envoy of overstepping his bounds recently by raising before the United Nations the idea of small-scale, localized and negotiated truces in Syria.