Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Friday that Russian Federation is “ready for close and constructive cooperation with all worldwide humanitarian organizations and, of course, with the office of the United Nations special envoy on Syria”.
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He also reminded that no one should be forced to leave Aleppo, while those who do wish to leave should be given the option to reach areas of their own choice.
Activists said that IS militants recaptured the nearby village of al-Bouweir on Thursday and killed 24 civilians. Russia, a key ally of al-Assad, on July 28 announced the opening of humanitarian passages for civilians and surrendering fighters seeking to exit the city’s rebel-held eastern neighborhoods.
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.
The United Nations has called on Russian Federation to allow the UN and aid agencies to monitor the four humanitarian corridors out of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.
The army, backed by allied militia forces and air strikes from Syrian and Russian jets, has taken more ground on the northern edge of the city, around the Castello road which leads out of Aleppoand north towards Turkey.
“Aleppo residents are in distress and mistrustful, which is understandable, as the Syrian tragedy has shown that even humanitarianism is often used as a cynical ploy to advance geopolitical interests”, said Bitar, from the French think-tank IRIS.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says coalition aircraft struck the village of Al-Ghandour on Thursday night.
France's Foreign Ministry said that the city's residents should have access to aid under global humanitarian rules and remain safely at home. The observatory’s chief, Rami Adurrahman, said another 13 people were killed in the strikes but that he could not say if they were ISIL fighters or civilians.
The fighting must stop before people will use the corridors according to de Mistura:”How can you expect people to want to walk through a corridor – thousands of them – while there’s shelling, bombing, fighting?”
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it is willing to work with the United Nations on setting up humanitarian corridors in Aleppo.
Analyst Karim Bitar from the French think-tank IRIS said: “Aleppo residents are facing a awful existential dilemma, they often have to chose between risking starvation or risking to die while fleeing”.
“The regime uses massive, indiscriminate force to brutalise civilians to force them to kneel or reject the rebel groups”, he added.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the USA -led coalition targeting a village in northern Syria held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) killed 28 civilians, including seven children.
The Observatory said an Islamist militant was believed to have been killed in the attack.
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It also reported that ISIS has executed 24 civilians in a village close to Manbij.
