Syrian rebels launch push aimed at breaking Aleppo siege

With rebel-held areas running out of food and medicine after the only supply route into the city was cut by the army after months of heavy Russian and Syrian aerial bombing, many vulnerable civilians are desperate to leave, while being suspicious of the plan.

In comments carried later Friday by Russia’s Interfax news agency, deputy defense minister Anatoly Antonov said that Russian Federation was willing to work with the United Nations on setting up the corridors.

“Be clear – these “corridors” are not for getting aid in, but driving people out”, Basma Kodmani, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Commission, said Friday. Some residents fear the proposed corridors are meant to restore government control over parts of the city that have been in rebel hands since 2012.

The 250,000 civilians trapped for weeks inside the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo have by and large stayed away so far from the “safe corridors” that Moscow and Damascus are offering to those who want to escape. Earlier in the day, helicopters had dropped unguided barrel bombs on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Bustan Al Basha, it said.

Three children were among 11 civilians killed in rebel rocket attacks launched from Rashidin on the government-controlled district of Hamdaniyeh in western Aleppo, the Observatory said.

The crossings were the first major movement of people from the besieged districts of the city after regime ally Russian Federation announced Thursday that passages would be opened for civilians and surrendering fighters.

The Observatory said an Islamist militant was believed to have been killed in the attack. It said they were taken to temporary shelters but gave no details.

Amnesty International said the aerial attack “appears to be part of a despicable pattern of unlawful attacks deliberately targeting medical facilities”, which can amount to a war crime.

The US has suggested the plan may be an attempt to force the evacuation of civilians and the surrender of rebel groups in the city.

It said that “a number” of women over the age of 40 had left in addition to the families and were taken to shelters.

The global coalition had no immediate comment on the casualty figures.

Elsewhere, at least nine civilians were killed Sunday in an air strike that hit a makeshift hospital at Jassem in the southern province of Daraa. Late Thursday, the US Central Command, which is responsible for US forces in the Middle East, said in a statement that the American-backed coalition had conducted airstrikes in the area of Manbij during the past 24 hours and that it was looking into whether an airstrike had resulted in civilian casualties.

Information for this article was conributed by Philip Issa of The Associated Press.