Russia on Wednesday urged the warring sides in Syria to halt their almost two-year conflict and start talks, warning that seeking a military settlement risked mutual destruction.

"It's time to end this two-year conflict," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a meeting with Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi and other top Arab diplomats.

Islamist rebels and Kurdish militias have ceased hostilities in the northern Syrian city of Ras al-Ain after sealing an accord that will see them fight together against the regime, activists said Tuesday.

Intermittent and sometimes deadly clashes have taken place between the two sides since rebels entered the majority Kurdish city, located on the border with Turkey, several months ago.

A cabinet minister on Tuesday said his country will demand compensation from Western officials who have imposed sanctions on Syria causing the deaths of "thousands".

"Who said that the embargo does not kill," Domestic Trade and Consumer Protection Minister Qadri Jamil said during a speech to parliament, which was broadcast by Syrian state television.

A rebel-held area of Syria has been hit by an outbreak of typhoid after power cuts hit water supplies and forced the population to turn to the Euphrates River, the U.N.'s health agency warned Tuesday.

Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organization, told Agence France Presse that some 2,500 people had caught the disease in the country's northeast.

A statement attributed to the Free Syrian Army gave Hizbullah on Tuesday a 48-hour ultimatum to halt its alleged operations in Syrian territories, warning that it will retaliate to the sources of fire inside Lebanon.

“If Hizbullah didn't halt shelling Syrian territories, villages and civilians from Lebanese territories within 48 hours, we will strike back,” a statement attributed to the rebel FSA said.

More than four million people inside Syria are in desperate need of aid, up sharply from 2.5 million in September, the UN's humanitarian agency said Tuesday.

"We are watching a humanitarian tragedy unfold before our eyes," Valerie Amos, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told reporters in Geneva.

Hundreds of troops backed by military vehicles poured into the northern province of Aleppo on Tuesday following rebel advances and as a battle raged for control of Syria's second-largest airport, a watchdog said.

The reinforcements arrived at the town of Tal-Aran in the southeast of the province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Two Russian Emergencies Ministry planes carrying humanitarian aid for Syria on Tuesday took off from Moscow for the city of Latakia and may take Russians wanting to leave on their flight back, the ministry said.

The Ilyushin-62 and Ilyushin-76 planes were carrying 46 tons of humanitarian aid and would be ready to evacuate any Russians wanting to leave the country, a ministry spokesperson told Russian news agencies.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour traveled to Moscow on Tuesday to attend the Arab-Russian Forum and hold talks with Russian officials on the situation in Syria.

In remarks carried by the state-run National News Agency, Mansour said the foreign ministers of Egypt, Iraq and Kuwait, and the Arab League chief will attend the forum.

High-ranking judicial sources expected on Tuesday former Minister Michel Samaha to be indicted in the next few days pending his trial on counts of terrorism.

The sources told al-Liwaa newspaper that Samaha's case would be referred to the permanent military court for trial after Military Examining Magistrate Riyad Abu Ghida issues the final indictment in the case.