Syrian army suspends operations in Aleppo, jihadis to surrender remaining positions in city (w/ VIDEO)
The Syrian flag was hoisted over the Aleppo Citadel after the recent advances of the army in the city
Syrian government forces have suspended “active military activities” against militants in eastern Aleppo to enable the withdrawal of civilians from the city, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has announced while speaking in Hamburg, Germany.
Lavrov was speaking on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of ministers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The Russian foreign minister also urged the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, to “stop sabotaging” the Geneva Syria peace talks.
Speaking to reporters, he also expressed hope that those responsible for the recent attack on a Russian mobile hospital in western Aleppo will be brought to justice. The assault happened earlier this week and left two female paramedics dead and one chief pediatrician severely injured.
“We are just doing our job, probably not everyone likes it, and a recent targeted strike against our hospital is yet more proof of that. But I am convinced that all measures will be taken to punish those responsible, and to prevent similar [attacks] in the future,” Lavrov said.
He noted that the US State Department previously expressed regret over the incident, but emphasized that “it has to clarify” all the circumstances. However, according to Foreign Minister “in cases when the Syrian government can be suspected, Americans are not clarifying anything, but are immediately heading to the microphone, demanding [the perpetrators] be punished.”
On Thursday, Lavrov also met with his US counterpart John Kerry, and later in the day held a telephone call with him. Resolving the Syrian issue was at the center of these talks, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced. In particular, the officials discussed ways to increase joint work between military experts from both countries.
Lavrov said that he and Kerry managed to reach an agreement which includes a meeting on Saturday in Geneva “between our [Russia-US] military experts and diplomats.” The gathering should help complete the negotiations on the US proposals on Aleppo and Syria in general, which have been “sporadically” ongoing over the past days.
In the telephone call with Lavrov, Kerry agreed that military experts from Russia and the US should cooperate closely on the withdrawal of the militants from Aleppo, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“Based on the US side’s declared readiness to facilitate the withdrawal of militants from that city, the sides agreed to look into practical details of this process at the expert level in the nearest future,” the ministry said.
Meanwhile, Moscow is fully determined to complete the battle against terrorists, Lavrov said.
“Our strategy is very simple – it is entirely based on a UN Security Council resolution, which envisions to mercilessly fight terrorists till their complete destruction, while at the same time solving humanitarian problems of the civilian population and starting a political process,” he said.
Related: A report from Syrian TV, not subtitled but still eloquent, about the current situation in Aleppo:
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Reblogged this on Worldtruth.
Any White Helmets left will be low level operatives ignorant of the connections with the UK. The WH training program was a multiple phase exercise. In the first phase, the UK gave intense training to a small group of individuals (~ 30 or so from memory). In the later phases, these individuals then trained local groups themselves. Once these 30 disappear, the remainder will be totally ignorant of the original UK origins. The 30 may already have escaped or been terminated by US/UK special forces before they too left. The US/UK SF may be out-and-out pyschos but they have a keen sense of self preservation. They are also sufficiently connected to know that leaving no traces is absolutely paramount. In terms of the actions of the potential higher WH operatives, here is a ‘heart warming story’ from Gaza. http://mondoweiss.net/2016/12/recreates-restaurant-fleeing/ The story is about Anas Qatarji, a Syrian chef fleeing Syria… Read more »
Thank you, Off-Guardian, for bringing some sanity to news providing in the world.
Given the absolute belligerence that Nato, and its members have shown towards Russia – even to the extent or risking a totally unnecessary nuclear war – is it any surprise that those same nations are as belligerent to Russias neighbour Syria? However the ‘Assad must go’ plan is now dead and Assad is not. So there is now a desperate attempt to rewrite failure as ‘almost success but for those pesky Rooskys’. The White Helmets are clearly a tool in the US/UK Armoury of Hybrid Warfare. They also coordinate closely with IS and its associates, as evidenced by the video of them promptly removing the body after an IS execution. So Syrian troops will not react kindly to them. Yet it is Russia that is offering a pause in hostilities to allow the civilians and the surrenderers to escape. In the second Chenchnyan campaign, the Russians would advance towards a… Read more »
Who says the Guardian’s journalists are without a sense of humour? Even at times like these there’s no holding them back, even though some might find the humour close to unacceptable, dark, satire. After all we’re talking about the lives of what appear, at least to the Guardian, like loveable little Bana, to be ‘real’ people. This article does show that some people at the Guardian know the ‘Truth’ about Aleppo and refuse to remain silent or bow to any form of groupthink.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/08/white-helmets-in-east-aleppo-plead-for-help-as-regime-advances
The comments section was interesting on this Guardian piece, proving yet again that many punters don’t buy into their whitewashed brainwashing.
Russia needs to be wary of letting the US help with any withdrawal of militants, I’m sure Lavrov knows they will have a considerable number of embedded operatives there – hence the White Helmets worrying about their treatment by the Syrian army.
Of course the piece in the Guardian may just be laying the ground for their supposed disappearance at the hands of their captors – if they were never there in the first place?