Mr Shoigu complained a fourth corridor for militants wishing to surrender had been established in the north of the city because the United States had failed to provide information on the positions of the Free Syrian Army and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
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In a televised speech on Thursday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced joint plans between Moscow and Damascus to “open three humanitarian corridors in order to help civilians who were kept hostage by the terrorists as well as the fighters who want to lay down their arms”. Assad has previously offered amnesty to rebels or deserters, and commuted sentences for various offenses.
The U.N. says Aleppo is now possibly the largest besieged area in Syria, with an estimated 300,000 residents inside. “But humanitarian corridors need to be well-planned, and must be implemented with the consent of parties on all sides”, Krista Armstrong said.
The latest pardon came as the Syrian army has been making strides in the northern city of Aleppo against the rebels, particularly those holed in the eastern part of the city.
A Russian and Syrian scheme to open corridors for those seeking to flee Aleppo was noted by the envoy, adding that it will be discussed with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Pro-government forces tightened their grip around the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo on Thursday where the local governor said safe corridors had been opened for civilians to escape rebel-held areas.
“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”.
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft is backing a U.N. call for 48-hour weekly humanitarian truces to allow desperately needed aid into embattled Aleppo but says “the Russian idea of corridors is an interesting alternative proposal”.
Khandakani said the offensive and siege is depriving him of his “brief feelings of independence and freedom” living in the part of the city under rebel control since 2012.
Abu Ans, the administration manager of a besieged hospital, told CNN Thursday that the situation was “very bad”.
“Many patients who have died could have been saved – they died because of the lack of medical supplies and equipment”. The discussions come amid calls from Russian Federation to target the group, which collaborates with other rebel groups, including those backed by the U.S.
The civil conflict has now been raging for five years due to the failure of diplomatic efforts to end the war.
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More than 280,000 people have been killed in Syria since the war began in March 2011 with anti-government protests that were met with a brutal regime crackdown.
