Russia: Halt of airstrikes on Aleppo to continue

BEIRUT -- The Russian military said Tuesday the halt of Russian and Syrian air strikes, in its seventh day, on besieged eastern parts of the city of Aleppo will continue, and humanitarian corridors will remain open even as the Syrian army has unleashed a new offensive on the rebel-held neighborhoods.

Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's General Staff said Tuesday that Russian and Syrian warplanes have stayed six miles away from Aleppo for a week. He said "the moratorium on Russian and Syrian air strikes on the city will be extended."

Last week, Russia also declared a three-day break in fighting intended to allow the evacuation of both militants and civilians from Aleppo's rebel-held eastern part. The rebels rejected the Russian offer, citing lack of security guarantees for the evacuees, and the planned evacuation of civilians also failed.

Rudskoi accused the militants of preventing both civilians and the rebels willing to leave Aleppo from exiting the city.

While the Syrian army has resumed its offensive, Rudskoi said six humanitarian corridors have remained open, and new breaks in fighting could be negotiated to evacuate civilians. He added the Russian military and local authorities helped evacuate 48 women and children from eastern Aleppo the previous evening.

Those evacuations could not be confirmed independently. The U.N. estimated 275,000 people are trapped by the Syrian government's siege of the rebel- held eastern parts of the contested city.

"We are ready to introduce 'humanitarian pauses' in the future as well at first request, but we will only do that if we have reliable information about the ill, the wounded and civilians ready to leave," Rudskoi said.

Fighting resumed in Aleppo city over the weekend, with pro-government forces mounting several assaults along the city's front lines after a three-day pause in military operations last week. The attacks have been accompanied by Russian air strikes on the outskirts.

But in contrast to the bombardment that devastated eastern Aleppo before the pause, clashes this week largely have been confined to the front lines, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that tracks the war in Syria.

A spokesman for the local Civil Defense search-and-rescue group said airstrikes on residential districts have decreased since last Tuesday, when the Russian and Syrian militaries announced they would open safe corridors for civilians and militants out of the east.