Russian humanitarian operation in Syria worries US

Meanwhile, Moscow and Damascus had launched a joint large-scale humanitarian relief operation in Aleppo, establishing three corridors for civilians and one for militants wishing to lay down arms, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday.

A Russian army spokesperson said 85 civilians and 29 fighters had left via the corridors on Friday and 52 civilians and 24 fighters on Saturday.

“The world must not allow Russian Federation to get away with disguising its assault on Aleppo with deceitful talk about humanitarian “corridors”, said Bassma Kodmani, a member of the High Negotiations Committee, Syria’s main opposition group.

On Saturday, regime war planes continued to hit opposition positions, with the Observatory reporting air strikes on two rebel-held areas on the outskirts of Aleppo.

“How do you expect people to walk through a corridor – thousands of them – while there is shelling, bombing, fighting?” de Mistura said.

In addition, 69 rebels have laid down arms and 59 people received medical treatment, the ministry said.

Bahaa Halabi, an opposition media activist inside Aleppo, said there are no corridors out of east Aleppo and even if there were, he would not take them.

Residents in these areas who were contacted said many were hesitant to enter into government-held areas for fear of arrest by government forces with no presence of any United Nations body or NGO’s to oversee the evacuation.

The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said he was not consulted on the safe passages offer, adding that he is looking to see how the United Nations could coordinate with Russian Federation on its plan to help civilians and opposition fighters who lay down their weapons outside Aleppo.

Regime aircraft bombed eastern areas of Aleppo overnight, the Britain-based Observatory said.

However, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-base monitoring group, said that several Aleppo residents, who were seeking to exit, were turned back by terrorists.

Authorities closed the main road into the rebel neighbourhoods on 17 July, but Syrian president Bashar al Assad has offered an amnesty to rebels who surrender to the authorities in the next three months.

The rebel-held side of the city has been effectively under government siege since 7 July, when Syrian government forces advanced to within firing range of the only remaining supply route to opposition-held areas.

Some of them have arrived in temporary shelters set up by the army in the western part of Aleppo, the report said.

“The brutal message to our people is: leave or starve”, Kodmani said.

There is no time left for the population of Aleppo, he also said. The bombings came a week after airstrikes, also blamed by Syrian activists on US aircraft, killed at least 56 civilians in IS-held territory in northern Syria.

The report also said some fighters had surrendered to the authorities.

The Manbij area has seen extensive battles between Islamic State extremists and US -backed Kurdish-led fighters, who have been advancing under the cover of air strikes by the USA -led coalition.

As for the current situation on the ground, he said Aleppo city is now nearly completely encircled by Syrian troops.