Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Aleppo’s Fate Lies in the Hands of Moscow and Washington | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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While the Syrian city of Aleppo witnessed a fragile calm yesterday after nine days of incessant shelling, Russian sources revealed that urgent Russian – American talks are taking place to include the city, which is situated in the north of Syria, in the proposed temporary ceasefire in rural Damascus and Latakia that theoretically came into effect at midnight on Saturday.

A Syrian opposition source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Americans have informed the opposition about the pressure that has been exerted on the Russians to include Aleppo in the temporary truce, while Russian sources confirmed that talks regarding this matter are taking place under the auspices of military personnel at the Humaimeem Russian air base in Syria and American soldiers at the Amman Centre for monitoring the ceasefire.

Meanwhile, opposition factions announced their rejection of a temporary truce in rural Latakia and Damascus, and emphasised that they will not accept “the principle of partition and regional ceasefires” endorsed by the regime that will allow it to gain more areas.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Geneva yesterday to meet his Saudi and Jordanian counterparts and the UN envoy to Syria in order to discuss efforts to halt hostilities in Syria.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights yesterday issued a special report to document the abuses carried out by the regime’s forces and its allies in the city of Aleppo during the period between April the 20th and 29th. On the other hand, a special report documenting the violations of some armed opposition factions in the city of Aleppo during the same period will be published during the next two days.

The report recorded the deaths of 148 civilians, including 26 children and 35 women. Amongst them, 92 civilians, including 7 children and 27 women were killed by the regime’s forces. In addition to this, troops that are believed to be Russian killed 56 civilians, including 19 children and 8 women.