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Roundup: Aleppo truce ends with no rebel evacuation

Xinhua, November 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

The 10-hour truce that went into force on Friday has ended without achieving its goals of evacuating rebels and civilians from rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor group reported.

The city of Aleppo has witnessed a relative calm with a Russian-Syrian unilateral "humanitarian pause" from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, the frontline between the government-controlled areas in western Aleppo and rebel-held ones in eastern Aleppo generally undisturbed, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Still, the main goal of the truce was not achieved.

The observatory, said to rely on a network of activists on ground, reported that neither rebels nor civilians have evacuated the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo during the truce.

The general command of the Syrian army said Wednesday it would observe a 10-hour "humanitarian pause" on Friday to let civilians and rebels leave rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo.

Rebels can leave the city through the Castello road and the Souk al-Khair crossing for rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib, while civilians can leave through six passages the army identified to government-controlled areas in western Aleppo, it added.

Earlier in the day, state news agency SANA said the rebels fired seven improvised rockets on the Castello road to prevent the evacuation of the militants who want to surrender themselves.

SANA said rebels prevented civilians from leaving for the second time in the past month.

The Syrian government also accused the rebels of blocking civilians from leaving, or extorting money from them in exchange for permission to leave.

In October, another three-day truce, unilaterally announced by Russia and the Syrian government, failed to achieve its intended goals of giving the civilians a pause to leave rebel-held areas and pushing the rebels out of Aleppo.

Rebels in eastern Aleppo have repeatedly said they will fight till the siege is broken.

Friday's humanitarian pause comes a day after the rebels in Aleppo launched the second phase of their offensive to break the government siege.

A military source, however, said the second wave of attacks on Thursday was foiled by the Syrian army and allied fighters.

The first wave of rebel attacks on Oct. 28 captured parts of government-controlled areas in western Aleppo, such as Menyan and Dahyeit al-Assad suburbs, but did not break the siege.

The Syrian army has laid siege on eastern Aleppo in recent months, urging the rebels to surrender or leave the city.

Observers believe that Aleppo is going to be a decisive battle ground among the fighting groups, and the winner will be dictating conditions to resolve the crisis. Endit