Middle East | Russia, Syria halt Aleppo airstrikes ahead of 8-hour lull

Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military’s General Staff speaks to the media, with a map of the area around Aleppo seen in the background

Russian and Syrian warplanes yesterday halted their airstrikes on Syria’s besieged city of Aleppo in preparation for a temporary pause in the military push that Moscow has announced for later in the week, the Russian defense minister said.
According to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the halt in the strikes should help pave way for militants to leave the eastern rebel-held parts of the contested city.
Both Russian and Syrian air raids on Aleppo were suspended on 10 a.m. Tuesday, Shoigu said. He described the suspension as a precursor for the opening of humanitarian corridors.
Moscow announced a “humanitarian pause” tomorrow to allow civilians and militants safe passage out of the city.
At that time, Russian and Syrian militaries will desist from any offensive actions. Syrian rebels, including al-Qaida militants, as well as the wounded and the sick will be allowed to leave to the neighboring rebel-held province of Idlib.
“The early halting of airstrikes is necessary to declare a ‘humanitarian pause’,” Shoigu said in a televised statement. “It will … guarantee a safe exit of civilians through six corridors and prepare for the evacuation of the ill and the wounded from the eastern part of Aleppo.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the halt in the airstrikes was a goodwill gesture to pave the way for Thursday’s pause. “The Russian military is offering yet another chance, and we hope that our partners will allow us all to take advantage of that,” Peskov said.
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and once its commercial hub, has been subjected to the most intense aerial bombardment since the start of the Mideast country’s conflict in 2011. In recent months, the Syrian army has pressed its offensive into the rebel-held eastern part of the city. Air raids have killed hundreds and caused international outrage.
A Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire collapsed last month as the Syrian army launched an offensive on eastern Aleppo under the cover of Russian warplanes.
Mohammed Abu Rajab, an Aleppo resident, said airstrikes on the eastern neighborhoods stopped early Tuesday, just after the city had been subjected to another intense round of air raids.
“There were airstrikes throughout the night,” Abu Rajab, who works at a local hospital, said over the telephone.
In Moscow, Shoigu added that Russia is “asking the countries wielding influence with the (Syrian) rebels … to persuade their leaders to end fighting and leave the city.”
He said the Syrian troops will pull back to distances allowing unimpeded exit for those carrying weapons via two corridors, including the main artery of Castello Road.
The Russian initiative also should boost talks between military experts from several nations that are set to open in Geneva on Wednesday, he added.
“Their work will be aimed first of all at separating the ‘moderate opposition’ from the terrorists and its withdrawal from the eastern part of Aleppo,” he said.
Moscow has urged Washington to encourage Syria’s Western-backed rebels to sever ties with al-Qaida militants.
During a meeting over the weekend co-chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar said they would work to separate moderate opposition groups in Aleppo from Syria’s former al-Qaida affiliate once known as the Nusra Front.
Russian and Syrian officials have since embraced a proposal made earlier this month by the U.N. Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, to allow al-Qaida-linked militants to leave Aleppo in exchange for a truce and a local administration for the eastern districts. Rebels there, along with many residents, have rejected the offer.
Russia’s announcement did not include any promises of an extended cease-fire or local administration in and around Aleppo.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner, speaking to reporters in Washington yesterday, said the Russian-Syrian pause planned was “a bit too little, too late.”
Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, would not say if the strikes would resume after the pause, saying that depends on whether the rebels can be persuaded to cut ties with militants. Vladimir Isachenkov & Bassem Mroue, Moscow, AP

Germany: Fight against is won’t increase security threat

Germany’s interior minister says efforts to combat the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria won’t increase the risk of attacks at home.
Thomas de Maiziere says authorities expect IS fighters from Europe to try to return as the group faces military setbacks, but that authorities are working to minimize security threats.
He told reporters in Berlin yesterday that he didn’t see “any additional threat to Germany from the fight against IS (in the region),” noting that “the threat is already high and it’s right that we should combat IS militarily.”
Speaking after meeting the European Union’s security commissioner, de Maiziere said that members states were working to combine databases holding fingerprint, visa and border crossing information, adding that this was “legally difficult, technically complicated and of utmost urgency.”