Russia announces pause in Syria attacks

By Hakan Ceyhan Aydogan

MOSCOW

Russia on Monday announced an eight-hour pause in attacks on the north Syrian city of Aleppo to allow aid to be delivered and civilians to leave.

The Russian and Syrian bombardment would halt between 8.00 a.m. (0500GMT) and 4.00 p.m. local time (1300GMT), Lt. Gen. Sergey Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff’s operations department, told a news conference in Moscow.

He said six humanitarian corridors would be opened to enable civilians and surrendering opposition fighters to leave the city and to allow aid in.

“We are ready to stop military activities at the request of humanitarian aid organizations for the access of medical personnel and the evacuation of the injured and sick,” Rudskoy said.

He ruled out a longer cease-fire, saying it would allow opposition forces in east Aleppo time to regroup.

Last month’s cease-fire broke down after Russian and Syrian warplanes carried out airstrikes that the West said targeted civilians and aid convoys. It was the latest failed attempt to bring the five-year civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands to an end.

Earlier Monday, a report from the EU Foreign Affairs Council condemned Syrian and Russian attacks on civilians.

It said the “deliberate targeting of hospitals, medical personnel, schools and essential infrastructure, as well as the use of barrel bombs, cluster bombs and chemical weapons, constitute a catastrophic escalation of the conflict... and may amount to war crimes.”

The report called for an end to military flights over Aleppo and an immediate cessation of hostilities to “save the people of Aleppo and in other parts of the country and to lay the ground for a resumption of credible intra-Syrian talks to provide security for the entire population of Syria.”