MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Terrorists in Syria continue bombardments of the western areas of Aleppo, the chief of the main operations directorate of Russia’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi, has told a news briefing.
"Militant groups’ bombardments of the western part of the city continue unabated," he said.
Medics to be at humanitarian corridors in Aleppo
Rudskoi went on to say that specialists have prepared busses and ambulance vans for the evacuation of the sick and injured from Aleppo. By the morning of November 4 the vehicles will be waiting at the entrances to the humanitarian corridors.
"Busses and ambulances have been prepared for the evacuation of the sick and the injured. By 08:00 of November 4 the vehicles will be brought to the entrances to the humanitarian corridors. For the period of the ‘humanitarian pause’ government troops and military equipment will be pulled back away from the established roots far enough to let the militants safely leave Aleppo," Rudskoi said.
He recalled that on instructions from Russia’s Supreme Commander-in-Chief a decision was made to introduce a daytime humanitarian pause in Aleppo on November 4. It will last from 09:00 to 19:00.
Progress in the evacuation is monitored online with the use of drones and web-cameras.
Group that beheaded child refused to leave Aleppo
Rudskoi said a moderate opposition grouping whose members beheaded a child in July has refused to leave the Syrian city of Aleppo,on.
A new humanitarian pause will be introduced in Aleppo on November 4 on the initiative of the Russian president. During the pause, militants can leave the city with arms through two corridors, the Russian general said.
"I want to note that yesterday the leadership of the terrorist grouping Nour al-Din al-Zenki, which is referred to the moderate opposition in the West, announced that the units under its control were not going to use the opportunity of leaving eastern Aleppo and will continue the armed struggle," Rudskoi said.
"Let me remind you that the talk is about the grouping whose members beheaded a child in July. That is why, this statement has not come as a surprise for us," the Russian general said.
According to Rudskoi, precisely this and similar radical groupings are mining humanitarian corridors in Aleppo, shooting civilians trying to leave the city’s eastern quarters and are taking all efforts to disrupt the process of stabilizing the situation.
40 dead
Rudskoi said nearly 40 people have been injured during the shelling of one of Aleppo’s neighborhoods by terrorists.
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"On October 30, armed groups in 1070 neighborhood carried out a strike on the Dahiyat al-Assad and Al-Hamdaniyah districts using home-made projectiles stuffed with a chemical warfare agent. Two Syrian servicemen were killed, while 37 civilians were wounded," he said.
According to Rudskoi, a group of experts from the Russian armed forces’ Scientific Center of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops has arrived in Aleppo to take part in the investigation into this attack.
Rudskoi added that militants on October 28 tried to break through into eastern Aleppo and out of it but sustained heavy losses.
Militant groups used the moratorium on flights by Russian and Syrian warplanes over Aleppo to launch active combat operations starting from October 28. There was an attempt to break through into the eastern part of the city towards the Al-Assad Academy. Militants sealed off inside eastern Aleppo tried to launch an offensive in the opposite direction in the area of the humanitarian corridor near the Suk al-Hai market.
"All of the militants’ attacks were rolled back. The terrorists sustained heavy losses, including 21 tanks, 10 BMP armored vehicles, six multiple rocket launchers, 14 mortar crews, 80 trucks armed with heavy machine-guns, and twelve motor vehicles loaded with explosives and driven by suicide bombers," Rudskoi said.
"Militants’ attempts to break out from northern Aleppo on November 1 failed, too," he said.
Militants bombarded western Aleppo 64 times over week
According to Rudskoi, over the past week there were 64 such attacks, which left 127 civilians dead.
"Militants continue bombardments of the western part of the city," he said. "Over the past week the terrorists opened fire with mortars and ‘hellfire’ launchers on western Aleppo 64 times. The attacks left 127 civilians killed and 254 others injured."