admin
BEIRUT/MOSCOW.- Pro-government forces tightened their grip around the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo yesterday where the local governor said safe corridors had been opened for civilians to escape rebel-held areas.
A quarter of a million civilians still live in Aleppo’s opposition-controlled eastern neighborhoods, effectively under siege since the army and allied militia cut off the last road into rebel districts in early July.
State television quoted the governor of Aleppo as saying three humanitarian corridors would be established and President Bashar al-Assad offered an amnesty for rebels who surrender within three months.
His ally, Russia, said a fourth corridor would be set up in the north of the city for surrendering rebels, near the Castello road which the army recently seized.
Pictures of what appeared to be a leaflet dropped on Thursday showed a map of Aleppo, entitled “Safe exit points from Aleppo city”, with four crossing points out of the rebel areas marked as humanitarian corridors.
The Syrian army said on Wednesday it had dropped thousands of leaflets over opposition-held Aleppo districts, asking residents to cooperate with the military and calling on fighters to surrender.
But two rebels and aid workers contacted in besieged Aleppo said the army fired at civilians at one of the safe corridors, in the Salah al Din district.
A doctor for a medical charity that operates in Aleppo also said the army had fired artillery at families gathering near another humanitarian corridor, in the opposition-held Bustan al Qasr neighborhood.
Hael Asi Hilal, head of the Syrian Red Crescent in rebel-held areas, said no family so far had been able to leave to government-held areas via any corridor due to snipers firing at them. – Reuters
Online Reporter