Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday offered an amnesty to militants if they surrender, the official SANA news agency reported.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday offered an amnesty to militants if they surrender, the official SANA news agency reported.

"Everyone carrying arms... and sought by justice... is excluded from full punishment if they hand themselves in and lay down their weapons," SANA said, quoting a presidential decree on the three-month amnesty offer.

The reprieve also includes any militant who frees a hostage, according to the decree text.

The offer comes as the Syrian army and its allies launch a wide-scale operation to liberate the city of Aleppo from the Takfiri terrorists.

Also on Thursday, Russia said it had launched a large-scale operation with the Syrian government to open humanitarian corridors for civilians and militants fleeing the northern city.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Russian news agencies that three humanitarian corridors were being opened "to aid civilians held hostage by terrorists and for militantss wishing to lay down their arms" and one more corridor to the north of the city for rebels to flee with their weapons.

Syria's UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said this week he hopes peace talks aimed at ending more than five years of brutal conflict could resume at the end of August.