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Russia announce new 10-hour humanitarian pause in Syria

Xinhua, November 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday a fresh pause of air strikes against militants in the Syrian city of Aleppo for 10 hours scheduled for Friday.

The humanitarian pause, to be introduced from 09:00 a.m. to 07:00 p.m local time (0700 to 1700 GMT), is aimed at avoiding "unnecessary casualties," Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said in a statement. He added that the decision has been agreed upon with the Syrian authorities.

The Russian military called on all the leaders of armed groups to cease hostilities and withdraw from Aleppo with their weapons.

Two corridors will be opened, one leading to the Syrian-Turkish border and the other to the province of Idlib, south west of Aleppo, while six more corridors will be kept to organize the exit of civilians and evacuation of the sick and wounded, the statement said.

A humanitarian pause, declared for eight hours from Oct. 20 and later extended, has barely held as militants in eastern Aleppo reportedly continued launching attacks.

Russia has not delivered any air strikes against rebels in Aleppo for 17 days.

On Friday, the Russian military asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to resume air strikes against militants in eastern Aleppo due to terrorist attacks, but the Russian leader turned it down, saying it is "inappropriate at the current time." Endi