A pause in Russian and Syrian strikes on Aleppo held into a second day Wednesday, ahead of a brief cease-fire aimed at allowing civilians and rebels to quit the devastated city.
The halt came ahead of talks in Berlin between the Russian, French, and German leaders on Syria’s five-year conflict.
Moscow announced early Tuesday that Russian and Syrian warplanes would stop bombing rebel-held parts of the city to pave the way for a “humanitarian pause.”
That window, starting at 0500 GMT on Thursday and due to last eight hours, is expected to see all fighting stop to allow civilians and rebels to exit opposition-held districts via six corridors.
An estimated 250,000 people live in Aleppo’s eastern districts and have been under near-continuous government siege since July.
Moscow’s offer was initially met with skepticism, but the bombing halt held for its first 24 hours. “There have been no air raids from yesterday morning until now,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said as the pause entered its second day.
Despite the bombing pause, troops pressed their ground assault in the Old City on Wednesday as they vied to shift the front line in the heart of Aleppo, according to the Observatory.
Meanwhile, senior US and Russian officials held talks on Wednesday aimed at agreeing on how to separate Al-Qaeda-linked militants from rebel fighters in the Aleppo so as to pave the way for the cease-fire.
Michael Ratney, the US special envoy for Syria, led Washington’s delegation while Moscow sent military experts whose names were not released. It was not clear if the talks would continue on Thursday.
The Russians and Americans were joined by officials from regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but not Syria’s ally Iran which was not invited, a Western diplomat said.
“The idea is to engage the Russians in a discussion on the issue,” the Western diplomat said before the meeting.
“Important countries, like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, which have influence over the mainstream rebel groups, are in a position to suggest to those groups to tell the Al-Nusra fighters that it is time to go to Idlib and therefore take away any alleged justification, or alibi, for the heavy bombing of urban areas of eastern Aleppo,” the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet.

Source: Arab News