Heavy Clashes Break Russian-Declared Ceasefire In Aleppo
MEP: Heavy clashes have been reported between regime and rebel forces in Syria’s divided city of Aleppo after a unilateral ceasefire declared by Russia ended on Saturday.
The truce was aimed at permitting civilians and foreign-sponsored militants to leave the eastern areas of the city.
However, not a single civilian has been able to flee the militant-held city as, RT’s correspondent on the ground reports.
“There were ambulances, buses waiting for civilians, waiting for the sick, nobody was allowed to leave,” RT’s Murad Gazdiev, who is currently in Aleppo, reported on Saturday.
Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Sergei Rudskoi said that militants were stopping people from using the corridors, using civilians as human shields.
“The terrorists are using the ceasefire in their interest… We are seeing them massing around Aleppo and preparing for another breakthrough into the city’s western neighborhoods,” he said.
The terrorists also bombed the corridors.
There are also concerns humanitarian aid did not reach the city during the ceasefire.
Aleppo was Syria’s most populous city before the war, but is now divided into government- and rebel-held areas. Intense bombardment has reduced the rebel-held east of the city to ruins.
Meanwhile the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fierce fighting in several areas of Aleppo wounded three people by shelling of the rebel-held Salaheddin and Al-Mashhad districts.
On October 18, Moscow and Damascus halted their anti-terrorist strikes on East Aleppo. Starting from October 20, a humanitarian ceasefire saw an opening of four corridors for civilians and two for militants to offer a safe way out. The UN and other aid groups were supposed to bring humanitarian aid through the respective corridors as well. On Thursday, militants opened fire on one of the routes, injuring three Russian officers at the El-Masharka government checkpoint, Moscow said.
