Syria - Page 7

A deal to evacuate rebel fighters and civilians from eastern Aleppo has stalled, with heavy shelling reported in the Syrian city.

The fighting in eastern Aleppo has stopped and the Syrian government has regained control over the territory after the withdrawal of militants from the city was agreed, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told the UN Security Council meeting in New York.

Syrian government forces have made major gains in southern Aleppo, state media and activists say, leaving rebels with only a small pocket 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.

Russia has generally steered clear of any sharp criticism of the Turkish offensive.

President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone on Monday to discuss the future of the US-Russia relationship.

Cruise missiles and carrier-based warplanes to hit eastern Aleppo

Russia on Wednesday told rebels holed up in Aleppo to leave by Friday night, signaling it would extend a moratorium on airstrikes against targets inside the Syria city.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it has presented Alex Van Meeuwen, Belgium’s ambassador in Moscow, with evidence proving the involvement of Belgian Air Force jets in a recent airstrike on a Syrian village that killed four civilians.

MOSCOW is sending a major aircraft carrier battlegroup to conduct strike operations in Syria as one of its spy ships appears to survey underwater internet cables in the troubled region.

Six more humanitarian corridors will be opened for the evacuation of civilians from Aleppo, he added.

Russia and the US will meet with regional powers to discuss possible steps for Syria crisis settlement on October 15 in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The attack on a UN humanitarian aid convoy near Aleppo, Syria, last month, which Washington has blamed on Russia, was actually carried out by one of the terrorist groups present in the area, the Russian president has said.

Estonian media reported on Friday that Russia was shipping Iskanders on a civilian vessel in the Baltic sea.

Russia has vetoed a French resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council. The document was submitted by Paris a week ago and is countered by a Russian draft resolution still to be voted on.

Russia has confirmed it has sent an S-300 air defence missile system to its naval base in Syria's port of Tartus.

The US is trying to spare a jihadist group in its attempts to unseat Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, Russia's foreign minister has told the BBC.

Russia has criticised the US and UK for using "unacceptable" tone and rhetoric in speeches on Syria at the UN, after being accused of "barbarism".

He dismissed criticism of the Syrian army, expressed at the Security Council meeting by the US, France and the UK, over the latest offensive in eastern Aleppo.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Syrian rebel groups are exploiting the current ceasefire to regroup.