-
Tips for becoming a good boxer - November 6, 2020
-
7 expert tips for making your hens night a memorable one - November 6, 2020
-
5 reasons to host your Christmas party on a cruise boat - November 6, 2020
-
What to do when you’re charged with a crime - November 6, 2020
-
Should you get one or multiple dogs? Here’s all you need to know - November 3, 2020
-
A Guide: How to Build Your Very Own Magic Mirror - February 14, 2019
-
Our Top Inspirational Baseball Stars - November 24, 2018
-
Five Tech Tools That Will Help You Turn Your Blog into a Business - November 24, 2018
-
How to Indulge on Vacation without Expanding Your Waist - November 9, 2018
-
5 Strategies for Businesses to Appeal to Today’s Increasingly Mobile-Crazed Customers - November 9, 2018
Rebels surrender to Syrian Army in Aleppo
Until now, the USA military has said its operations against Islamic State militants have resulted in 55 civilian deaths and 29 civilian injuries.
Advertisement
“Why would you evacuate a city that you wanted to send humanitarian aid to?” asked one official.
Entrances to the corridors were effectively shut in rebel areas inside the city on Friday, the Observatory said.
An AFP correspondent in east Aleppo said streets were empty on Friday morning, with residents holed up indoors.
“This would appear to be a demand for the surrender of opposition groups and the evacuation of Syrian civilians from Aleppo”.
In Geneva, de Mistura expressed support “in principle” for humanitarian corridors “under the right circumstances”.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said airstrikes in Kafr Takhareem village in Idlib hit a hospital and a centre for civil defence volunteers.
The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said he was not consulted on the safe passages offer, adding that he is looking to see how the United Nations could coordinate with Russian Federation on its plan to help civilians and opposition fighters who lay down their weapons outside Aleppo.
News of the Russian military proposal came while the U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura was attending a weekly meeting of the Humanitarian Access Task Force.
Observatory’s chief Rami Adurrahman says another 13 people were killed in the strikes but that he couldn’t say if they were IS fighters or civilians.
Government forces have surrounded rebel-held districts in eastern Aleppo since July 17, sparking fears for an estimated 250,000 people who live there.
Aid agencies called Friday on Syria’s government to end its encirclement of rebel-held east Aleppo as a handful of civilians managed to use humanitarian corridors to flee the ruined city.
The Red Cross said on Thursday it welcomed any respite for civilians in Aleppo but that departures must be voluntary and the safety of those who made a decision to stay must be guaranteed.
If Russia’s planned humanitarian operation for Aleppo is a ruse, it risks disrupting U.S.
Analyst Karim Bitar added: “Aleppo residents are facing a bad existential dilemma, they often have to chose between risking starvation or risking to die while fleeing”.
The Syrian opposition condemned Russia’s proposal, saying the exit corridors would be used to empty the city.
According to media reports, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday that his forces are participating in “a large-scale humanitarian operation” in Aleppo to help residents “who had become hostages of terrorists”.
“In Aleppo, getting civilians to leave would both serve its propaganda and its military objectives”, said Emile Hokayem, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
A fourth corridor would be established in northern Aleppo to allow for the withdrawal of armed insurgents, the statement said, calling it an exceptional attempt to spare civilians from violence.
The fate of Aleppo in the coming weeks has the potential to be a turning point in a seemingly endless, multi-sided civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, driven millions from their homes and drawn in most world and regional powers.
Advertisement
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this week that recent US-Russia discussions should encourage moderate Syrian opposition groups to leave areas occupied by the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, thus helping to implement a truce there.