Dozens of families and some opposition fighters have taken up the opportunity to leave rebel-held parts of the northern Syrian city, state media reported.
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A picture taken on July 29, 2016 shows a close up view of Karaj al-Hajz corridor (C), a passage in rebel-held Aleppo leading towards the Syrian government controlled area of Masharqa neighbourhood.
The crossings were the first major movement of people from the besieged districts of the city after regime ally Russian Federation announced Thursday that passages would be opened for civilians and surrendering fighters.
The Nusra Front, one of the most powerful rebel forces in Syria’s five-year, multi-sided civil war, was excluded along with Islamic State from a USA – and Russian-backed ceasefire this year.
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said Russian Federation should let the United Nations take charge of the corridors as a reassurance to the beleaguered population.
“This morning dozens of families left via the corridors identified.to allow the exit of citizens besieged by terrorist groups in the eastern neighbourhoods”, Syrian news agency SANA reported.
“Aleppo residents are calling the corridors that Russian Federation is talking about “death corridors”, which is why they have not taken up the invitation to use them, said Ahmad Ramadan from the opposition Syrian National Coalition.
The report also said some fighters had surrendered to the authorities.
At the same time, Syria’s President Bashar al Assad has signed a decree granting amnesty for members of armed groups who turn themselves in to the competent authorities and lay down their weapons, and those who set free in a safe way persons they kidnapped.
The agency published photos of people – mostly women and children – walking onto buses.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, also reported that airstrikes hit a hospital and a center for first responders in Kafr Takhareem village in a rural part of Idlib province on Friday.
The government completely closed the main road into rebel-held areas of Aleppo on July 17, besieging the 300,000 people living there.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it is willing to work with the United Nations on setting up humanitarian corridors in Aleppo. The UN and its humanitarian partners, as you know, know what to do.
The United States is trying to determine whether a Russian plan for a humanitarian operation in Syria is honest, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday, adding that if it proves a “ruse” it could ruin cooperation between Moscow and Washington. Two rebels and aid workers contacted in besieged Aleppo said the army had fired at civilians in one of the safe corridors, in the Salah al-Din district.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denied allegations that Russia and Syria are preparing to storm Syria’s Aleppo after clearing civilians out of the city under the guise of a humanitarian operation. “That is our job”, he said, expressing his support “in principle” for humanitarian corridors “under the right circumstances”.
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“The brutal message to our people is: leave or starve”, Kodmani said.
