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Russia: No Russian or Syrian Strikes on Aleppo for Past Week

by VOA News

   Russia said Tuesday no Russian or Syrian forces have carried out
   airstrikes on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo during the past seven
   days.

   Military spokesman Igor Konashenkov said no Russian or Syrian planes
   have gone near the city that has been left battered by the conflict and
   is the subject of intense efforts to get humanitarian aid to the
   several hundred thousand people who remain.

   Konashenkov added that six humanitarian passages remained open for
   people who want to leave the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo.

   The seven-day period includes a three-day cease-fire that ended
   Saturday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
   reported that airstrikes in Aleppo resumed shortly after the halt in
   fighting expired.

   There were also accusations from Russia and Syria that rebels had
   prevented people from using the corridors to flee, while rebel leaders
   countered that most civilians were not leaving because they distrusted
   the Syrian government and what might happen if they did go.

   As many as 300,000 civilians are thought to be trapped in eastern
   Aleppo, with little food or emergency medical supplies. No aid has
   entered the city since early July, and the United Nations warns that
   food rations will run out by the end of this month.

   United Nations relief chief Stephen O'Brien expressed frustration that
   medical evacuations that were supposed to accompany the cease-fire did
   not take place.

   "I am outraged that the fate of vulnerable civilians -- sick and
   injured people, children and the elderly, all in need of critical and
   life-saving support -- rests mercilessly in the hands of parties who
   have consistently and unashamedly failed to put them above narrow
   political and military interests," he said.

   Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Monday the Russian
   government will not consider another halt in fighting for Aleppo.

   Ryabkov, speaking to Interfax news agency, said any new truce would
   require "our opponents" to ensure what he called "appropriate behavior"
   by "anti-government fighters" seeking to topple the Damascus government
   and oust President Bashar al-Assad. In a statement, Ryabkov accused
   unnamed anti-government groups of sabotaging medical evacuations that
   had been scheduled to take place during the cease-fire.

   In a separate foreign ministry statement Monday, Moscow again called on
   the United States to ensure the separation of jihadist fighters in
   Aleppo from what it called "moderate opposition fighters" seeking to
   drive Assad from power.