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Syrian Families ‘Leave’ Aleppo Rebel Areas

Russian Federation and the Syrian government will open humanitarian corridors in Syria’s embattled city of Aleppo and offer a way out for opposition fighters wanting to lay down their arms.

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The capitulation took place in Aleppo’s Salaheddine neighborhood on Saturday, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported.

Syrian regime ally Russian Federation has announced the opening of three humanitarian passages for civilians and surrendering fighters seeking to exit Aleppo’s eastern districts.

Some families in besieged Aleppo have been allowed to leave the city after the government opened up a number of safe corridors.

“The regime uses massive, indiscriminate force to brutalise civilians to force them to kneel or reject the rebel groups”, he added.

The evacuation came a day after U.N. special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura urged Russian Federation to leave the creation of humanitarian corridors around Aleppo to the United Nations and its partners.

The report further noted that tens of families went out through the corridors set up by army forces for the safe departure of the civilians trapped by terrorist groups in Aleppo’s eastern districts.

According to Sana news agency, some rebel fighters have surrendered to government forces.

Syrian state television on Saturday showed scores of mostly women gathered in a government-controlled area of the city, saying how conditions in rebel-held areas were hard and chanting praise for Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said airstrikes in Kafr Takhareem village in Idlib hit a hospital and a center for civil defense volunteers.

An estimated 300,000 people are trapped in the rebel-controlled eastern side of the city.

Three humanitarian corridors are being opened to aid civilians and for quote “fighters wishing to lay down their arms”.

It also reported that IS had executed 24 civilians after seizing a village in northern Syria.

“Be clear – these “corridors” are not for getting aid in, but driving people out”, Basma Kodmani, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, said on Friday.

“Understandably, many people are afraid to leave and cross into other places after living for years under the control of the rebels”, he said.

Syria’s opposition has dismissed the humanitarian corridors initiative as a ploy and part of the government’s bid to recapture all of Aleppo city.

He said that if the United Nations allows residents to travel safely to other opposition held-areas, this could reassure people that it is safe to leave and would reduce the number of people killed in the siege or from airstrikes.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that if the operation was “a ruse” it could disrupt US-Russian co-operation in Syria. We were not allowed to leave.

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Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Moscow is “ready for close and constructive cooperation” with the United Nations as well as the Red Cross and other organizations seeking to address the humanitarian crisis. “We suffered a lot to be able to come here”, a Syrian woman said.

Only a few residents of Syria's Aleppo were able to leave through humanitarian corridors before rebels prevented them from fleeing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said