Aleppo: Terrorists Violate Ceasefire, Syrian Gov’t Forces Restart Operations

Militants in Aleppo violated the agreement on leaving the city and used the ceasefire to regroup and begin hostilities again, the Russian center said in a statement on Wednesday.

The center added that it had prepared means for evacuation of militants to Idlib, in accordance with the deal reached by the Syrian authorities and the militants.

“When the transport arrived at the previously agreed loading place, the militants began shelling the convoy. Having used the ceasefire, the militants regrouped at dawn and renewed hostilities, trying to break through the positions of the Syrian army in the Northwestern direction,” the statement read.

According to the statement, the army repelled the attack and continued the operation to liberate Eastern Aleppo.

Media reports say the buses that have gone to Aleppo to take militants and civilians out of the city returned to depots.

Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin had told the UN Security Council meeting in New York on Tuesday that the fighting in Eastern Aleppo stopped and the Syrian government regained control over the territory after the withdrawal of militants from the city was agreed.

 “The latest information that we have received during the past hour or so is that military operations in Eastern Aleppo have concluded,” Churkin said, adding, “So, there is no issue of any ceasefire or special humanitarian operations. The Syrian government has regained control of the Eastern Aleppo, so the stage of practical humanitarian actions begins.”

Ahead of the emergency UN Security Council meeting, the Russian Envoy told reporters that the “latest information was that they indeed had an arrangement achieved on the ground that the fighters were going to leave the city”.

According to Churkin, the militants, who have been holed up in Eastern Aleppo for years, are scheduled to leave the city “within hours.”

The envoy added that the withdrawal of militants would put the city under the control of the Syrian government and there would be no need for Eastern Aleppo residents to leave their homes.

During his speech at the meeting, Churkin told the UNSC members that the “counterterrorism operations in Aleppo will conclude in the next few hours”.

He said that the fighters were leaving the city through corridors that they chose themselves, including ones leading to Syria’s Idlib province, adding that “The counter-terrorism operation in Aleppo will be completed within a few hours. All the militants along with their families and the wounded are now withdrawing through the agreed corridors in the directions they themselves have chosen, including in the direction of Idlib”.

Meanwhile, the terrorist groups in Eastern Aleppo asked the Syrian Army to allow them leave the city for Idlib similar to other militant groups throughout the country that have opted for the same choice.

The Syrian Army’s victories in Eastern Aleppo finally forced militant groups to leave the war-torn city as Jeish Al-Fatah terrorists are now encircled in a very small area left with the only two options of surrender or die.

The Russian Center announced on Tuesday that the Syrian army troops and popular forces squeezed Jeish al-Fatah terrorists in an area no larger than 3 sq/km, after taking control of more than 98 percent of entire Eastern Aleppo.

A field source also disclosed that the defense lines of the terrorists completely collapsed and they were not able to resist against the government forces’ strikes, saying the army men and Hezbollah will soon liberate the remaining neighborhoods.

The Syrian army units started special operations in Aleppo after several humanitarian pauses declared by Damascus and Moscow to give a chance to the civilian population as well as the militants to leave the Eastern parts of the city through 8 corridors.

District after district have fallen into the hands of the Syrian army soldiers and their allies in the city of Aleppo, as the pro-government troops have recaptured most of the blocks and districts in the Northern and Southern parts of Eastern Aleppo.

Also, tens of thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children and newborn babies, have also left the Eastern part of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo in recent days, while thousands of militants laid down their arms and left Eastern Aleppo through the special corridor.

Over the recent months, Aleppo has been a battlefield between government forces and numerous terrorist groups, however, in recent weeks, the Syrian Army has made significant gains in Eastern Aleppo and is close to liberating it from the militants.