Russia and the Syrian army on Wednesday told anti-government rebels in Aleppo to leave by tonight, signaling an extended moratorium on airstrikes in the city.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, which is helping forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to retake full control of Aleppo, said rebels would be allowed to exit the city unharmed and with their weapons between 9am and 7pm today via two special corridors.
Civilians and the sick and wounded would be allowed to leave via six other corridors, it said.
Photo: Reuters
The Syrian army released a similar statement later in the day calling on rebel fighters to cease fire and to “use this opportunity” to leave the city with their small arms.
Rebels rejected the calls, an official in an Aleppo-based insurgent group said.
“This is completely out of the question. We will not give up the city of Aleppo to the Russians and we won’t surrender,” Zakaria Malahifji of the Fastaqim rebel group said.
He denied there were corridors guaranteeing safe passage and said civilians did not trust the government side.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the pause in fighting “to avoid senseless victims,” the defense ministry said, adding that Syrian authorities would ensure its troops pulled back from the two corridors designated for rebels.
Russia and its Syrian allies say they halted air attacks on Aleppo on Oct 18. Western governments said the strikes had killed civilians in large numbers, an allegation Moscow denied.
Humanitarian pauses designed to allow both rebels and civilians to exit the city have been organized by Moscow and Damascus before, but have largely failed amid continued violence with both sides accusing the other of stopping people from leaving.
The ministry on Wednesday said that rebels inside Aleppo had taken heavy losses during fighting and were effectively trapped.
“All attempts by the rebels to break through in Aleppo have failed,” the ministry said. “The terrorists have suffered heavy losses in lives, weapons and equipment. They have no chance to break out of the city.”
In related news, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance of Kurdish and Arab armed groups yesterday said it would reject Turkish involvement in the operation to drive the Islamic State group from its Syrian capital, Raqqa.
US officials have said they hope to start an offensive against Islamic State in Raqqa within weeks, and have said that the SDF will play a big role, but Washington’s ally Turkey has also insisted that it take part in the operation.
“The Syrian Democratic Forces are the only force that will take part in the operation to liberate Raqqa and we informed the [international] coalition forces that we reject any Turkish role in the Raqqa liberation operation,” SDF spokesman Talal Silo said.
Turkey’s military and allied Syrian rebel groups last week fought Kurdish forces allied to the SDF in northwest Syria, where both sides are seeking to take territory from their mutual enemy Islamic State.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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