Rebels, fighting along-side Jihadist militants, in the besieged eastern Aleppo, called for an immediate five-day ceasefire and the evacuation of civilians and wounded, but gave no indication whether they were ready to withdraw as demanded by Damascus and Moscow.
The Syrian army and its allied forces have made rapid gains against insurgents in the past two weeks and look closer than ever to restore full control over Aleppo, Syria’s most populous city before the war, and achieving their most important victory of the conflict, now in its sixth year. “I am now at the position of Aleppo Citadel, this ancient historic fortress that expresses the strength of Aleppo and Syria. This fortress has stood strong throughout the past four years under the conditions of a complete siege, (it) was able to block all the terrorist attempts to take over this fortress. The fighting on the eastern side of Aleppo will continue with the Free Syrian Arab Army and the friendly forces, day and night, until we liberate these neighborhoods from all the terrorists in these neighborhoods. The message we want to send to those armed terrorists is as follows: ‘Either you come out in accordance to the Syrian conditions or you will meet your death for sure,” Syrian Military Chief of Operations Maj. Gen. Zaid Saleh said.
The Syrian government now appears closer to victory than at any point in the five and a half year conflict, a war that has claimed the lives of some half a million people, and displaced more than 11 million others, prompting the severest refugee crisis since world war two.