U.S.-Backed ‘Moderate’ Rebels Behead a Child Near Aleppo
On August 10, Russia announced daily three-hour ceasefires in Aleppo, which will start on August 12, Reuters reported late on Thursday. The main purpose of the ceasefires is to allow humanitarian convoys to enter the city safely, a proposal which the United Nations said it would consider.
Speaking at a televised briefing, a senior Russian Defence Ministry official, Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi, said that “the pause in fighting would run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time.” He also added that Russia, the UN and the US were discussing the question of joint control over delivery of humanitarian aid via Castello Road. According to Rudskoi, the Syrian Army and its popular allies would halt “all military action, air and artillery strikes” during the three-hour periods.
“This is to ensure that all interested organizations have the opportunity to deliver their humanitarian assistance to the residents of Aleppo,” he said.
Rudskoi also noted that Damascus and Moscow would work together to ensure safe delivery of the aid.
However, according to Reuters, a “major rebel group” fighting inside Aleppo is skeptical about the Russian plan.
“Is this publicity that Russia is a neutral party? What is three hours? In those three hours they will just be bombing Idlib!”, Reuters quoted the words of Abd al-Salaam Abd al-Razzaq, military spokesman for Nour al Din al-Zinki.
In July, Nour al Din al-Zinki fighers beheaded a 12-year-old boy in northern Aleppo. It’s easy to suggest why the group sceptical about its future after liberation of the city.
Currently, Aleppo is split into terrorist and government controlled areas. In early July, after government forces cut the Castello Road, the main supply route into the district, the terrorist-held east, where about 250,000 people are thought to be living, came under siege.
