Syria’s opposition will decide this week whether to attend forthcoming peace talks in Geneva and has complained to the United Nations that Russian air strikes have carried on despite a truce, opposition co-ordinator Riad Hijab said.

Britain and France criticised Russia’s role in Syria’s war and said Moscow must stop the conflict rather than fuelling it, after missile strikes killed dozens of civilians on Monday.

The UN said the Syrian government has allowed access to an opposition town near the Lebanon border where residents have resorted to eating cats and dogs to survive.