Russian military forces to strike militants around Syria's Aleppo: local media

The Russian military forces are going to launch a strike against the militants around the Syrian city of Aleppo in next few hours, the Interfax News Agency reported Tuesday.

"The Admiral Kuznetsov's deck-based aircraft and Russian Navy ships armed with precision weapons are preparing to strike militants in the suburbs of Aleppo within the next few hours. The strikes will be directed upon the periphery of the city area,"a source from the Russian Defense Ministry was quoted as saying.

Russia has halted air strikes on the rebel-held eastern Aleppo since October 18, and an additional 10-hour humanitarian pause was introduced on Friday under the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the Russian air forces would not carry out strikes on eastern Aleppo if militants did not start offensive actions. Endit