(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a request by his military to resume air raids over Syria's rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
The Russian army said on Friday that it had asked the president for authorisation to resume its bombing campaign, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "considers it inappropriate at the current moment", adding the president thought it necessary to "continue the humanitarian pause" in the war-battered city.
The request was made after Syrian opposition fighters launched an assault against the government-held western part of the city, firing rockets and detonating car bombs in a counter assault.
Opposition activists say 15 civilians, including children, were killed in those attacks on government-held western Aleppo. Rebels also targeted a military airbase.
Russia suspended its attacks in Aleppo several days ago after the Syrian troops completed the siege of the city’s eastern part. According to Russia's Defense Ministry, the Syrian and Russian warplanes have not bombed Aleppo for the past 10 days to allow civilians and militants to leave the city via humanitarian corridors.
Earlier on Friday, about two dozen civilians were killed and some 100 others injured as foreign-backed militants shelled western Aleppo as part of a massive offensive to try to break the Syrian government's siege over the city.
Among the dead were six children who were killed in a terrorist rocket attack on a school in the government-held part of the city.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack, saying “such attacks, if deliberate, may amount to war crimes.”
“Those responsible for these acts must be brought to justice,” said a statement issued by his spokesman.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a request by his military to resume air raids over Syria's rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
29 October 2016 - 13:22
News ID: 788542
