The bus barricade

Three single-decker buses can be seen turned upright to form a wall in the middle of a street in Aleppo, as a lone child walks past the makeshift barrier.

The city has been ravaged by the country's civil war, with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad controlling much of the north of the settlement while the rebels occupy the south. 

Diplomacy remains stalled between the two sides, with rounds of peace talks between the Assad government and the opposition coming to nothing - including a proposed local ceasefire in Aleppo, the largest city in Syria.

An estimated 31,000 people are said to have died in the city, however this number could be far higher, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 215,518 people had been killed throughout Syria since the uprising began four years ago.

Aleppo has only 90 minutes of electricity a day and conditions are of 'grave concern', the International Committee of the Red Cross said. Last week the Red Cross evacuated 17 disabled people across frontlines in Aleppo for treatment, as well as restoring a hospital generator.

There are fresh hopes that fighting could soon cease, at least temporarily, after US Secretary of State John Kerry said the time had come to 'negotiate' with Assad.

Despite earlier insisting the the iron-fisted leader's days were numbered, Kerry said: 'Well, we have to negotiate in the end. We've always been willing to negotiate.'

Kerry acknowledged that it would need increased pressure on Assad, 'to make it clear to him that there is a determination by everybody to seek that political outcome and change his calculation about negotiating'.

'That's underway right now. And I am convinced that, with the efforts of our allies and others, there will be increased pressure on Assad.'

The conflict began as an anti-government uprising, with protesters taking to the streets on March 15, 2011, inspired by similar revolts in Egypt and Tunisia.

But a fierce government crackdown on the demonstrations prompted a militarisation of the uprising and its descent into today's brutal conflict.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR says Syria is now 'the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era', with around four million people fleeing abroad. 

More than a million are taking refuge in neighbouring Lebanon, while others are sheltering in Jordan and Turkey - placing a huge strain on those countries.

Inside Syria, more than seven million people have been displaced, and the United Nations says around 60 percent of the population now lives in poverty. The country's infrastructure has been decimated, and experts say the economy has been set back by some 30 years.

Despite international outrage at the death toll, and allegations that his regime used chemical weapons against its own people in August 2013, Assad has clung to power and does not look likely to be deposed any time soon.

His forces have consolidated their grip on the capital Damascus, where 18 more people were killed and more than 100 were injured in air raids yesterday.

(dailymail.co.uk)