CIVILIANS poured out of insurgent-occupied east Aleppo yesterday, with more than 10,000 taking advantage of a brief Russian-brokered ceasefire to escape the clutches of the area’s jihadist defenders.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced the humanitarian pause late on Thursday in the German city of Hamburg, where he had earlier met his US counterpart John Kerry.

With the crucial battle of Aleppo almost won by Syrian government forces, Mr Lavrov said peace talks would resume in Geneva tomorrow.