Russian and Syria have said they are opening humanitarian corridors out of besieged, rebel-held areas in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
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“If Assad shows that he is winning Aleppo, and he’s now also advancing on the rebels in Damascus, it could trigger a more dramatic shift by finally convincing opposition groups that they have lost the war”, said Aron Lund, nonresident associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Al-Zoubi continued by saying that news that the regime is tightening the military siege on the opposition in Aleppo is incorrect and pointed out that the siege on Aleppo now applies to civilians only and aims to curb the movement of civilians.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday the Russian and Syrian militaries would start a large-scale humanitarian operation in Aleppo during which civilians and militants would be given the chance to leave the besieged zone.
The TV says fliers have already been dropped on Thursday on rebel-held besieged parts of Aleppo city, urging people to take the government’s offer of humanitarian corridors.
The fourth, in the direction of Castello Road, would be for armed militants, although Mr Shoigu complained that the USA had not supplied information about how the rebel Free Syrian Army units it supports had separated from jihadist al-Nusra fighters.
Throughout the five years of Syria’s war, aid agencies have pleaded for humanitarian access – usually in vain. Assad has previously offered amnesty to rebels or deserters, and commuted sentences for various offenses.
The Russian announcement was met with skepticism from the opposition. Humanitarian groups have warned of a major catastrophe if the siege continues, while others slammed the offer as insufficient.
Russian Federation had asked the U.S. to give coordinates of the so-called Free Syrian Army to spare them from attacks on al-Nusra Front militants in Syria’s once largest city.
O’Brien reiterated the United Nations demand for “safe, regular and sustained access” to 250,000 people trapped behind front lines and stressed that “all options must be considered”. “[The Russian Foreign Ministry] called on military representatives of foreign countries to inform their capitals about the Russian military agency’s initiative and consider a possibility of rendering assistance to the Syrian population”, a report received by TASS said.
If the corridors were established, he said, it was critical that their security was guaranteed by all parties and that people could use them voluntarily.
“No one can be forced to flee, by any specific route or to any particular location”, he said. “Protection must be guaranteed for all according to the principles of neutrality and impartiality”.
It has been roughly divided into a regime-controlled west and a rebel-held east since July 2012.
Residents have reported food shortages and spiralling prices in rebel districts since regime forces cut off the opposition’s main supply route into the northern city earlier this month.
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UNICEF issued a statement Tuesday saying four hospitals in eastern Aleppo and a blood blank had been struck in recent days, disrupting vital medical services.
