Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting a number of opposition factions and extremist groups.
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Russian Federation said on Thursday it would stop attacks on Aleppo for 48 hours next week to allow delivery of humanitarian aid, indicating it would also prevent the Syrian government from bombing there, provided the United States could guarantee a similar pause by the “so-called moderate opposition”. He also said it was to display “respect” towards the World Humanitarian Day tomorrow and signal “deep unhappiness” about the lack of a pause that is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching anywhere in Syria, except Deir ez-Zor, where the World Food Programme (WFP) has conducted airdrops 100 times.
“The government is in total agreement with the evacuation and the (Syrian Arab Red Crescent) is working with different armed opposition groups to make sure we have evacuations as soon as possible”.
A senior rebel commander said there was a “positive atmosphere” surrounding talk of a ceasefire.
Fighting between US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Syrian National Defence Forces reservists escalated in north-eastern Hassakeh yesterday, with more air force raids reported in what the YPG – which has fought Isis alongside the Syrian army – called “a flagrant act of aggression”.
Konashenkov on Thursday also added that specific dates could be determined upon coordination with the United Nations and after receiving guarantees of safe passage of the convoys from the U.S.
He says aid could be sent from Gaziantep in Turkey to the eastern part of Aleppo via Castello road.
Russian warships in the Mediterranean Sea fired cruise missiles at targets near Aleppo on Friday, a further sign of Moscow’s broadening military effort in Syria days after it began to fly bombing missions from an airbase in Iran.
It said that the raid struck five ammunition and fuel facilities, six command facilities and “destroyed a large number of militants, artillery and armor”.
Escalating violence in and around the city, where Russian Federation and Iran are supporting bombing campaigns against the rebels, some of whom are backed by Arab and Western powers, caused the breakdown of peace talk in Geneva overseen by de Mistura.
The United States has expressed shock at a photo circulating worldwide on social media that shows a dazed Syrian boy covered in blood and dust, calling him “the real face” of the country’s war.
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Pictures of a dazed, bloodied child pulled from the rubble after an air raid stirred global outrage on Thursday.
