Russia tells rebels to leave Syria's
Aleppo by Friday evening
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[November 02, 2016]
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on
Wednesday told anti-government rebels holed up in Syria's Aleppo to
leave by Friday evening, signaling it would extend a moratorium on air
strikes against targets inside the city.
The Russian Defence Ministry, which is helping forces loyal to President
Bashar al-Assad try to retake full control of Aleppo, said rebels would
be allowed to exit the city unharmed and with their weapons between 0900
and 1900 local time on Nov. 4 via two special corridors.
Civilians and the sick and wounded would be allowed to leave via six
other corridors, it said.
President Vladimir Putin had ordered the pause in fighting "to avoid
senseless victims," the Defence Ministry said, saying that Syrian
authorities would ensure that Syrian troops pulled back from the two
corridors designated for rebels.
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Russia and its Syrian allies say they halted air attacks on Aleppo on
Oct 18. Western governments had alleged that the strikes had been
killing civilians in large numbers, an allegation Moscow denied.
Humanitarian pauses designed to allow both rebels and civilians to exit
the city have been organized by Moscow and Damascus before, but have
largely failed amid continued violence with both sides accusing the
other of stopping people from leaving.
A Kremlin spokesman said on Tuesday that the moratorium on air strikes
was still in force, but could not be extended if rebels in the city did
not halt their attacks.
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![](../images/110216PICS/news_p25.jpg)
Smoke rises near a damaged road in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo
city, Syria October 30, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah
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The Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that rebels inside
Aleppo had taken heavy losses during fighting and were effectively
trapped.
"All attempts by the rebels to break through in Aleppo have failed,"
the ministry said. "The terrorists have suffered heavy losses in
lives, weapons and equipment. They have no chance to break out of
the city."
(Writing by Denis Pinchuk and Andrew Osborn; editing by John
Stonestreet)
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