Corridor opened in Aleppo for evacuations, but civilians refuse to leave fearing trap

BEIRUT: The Syrian government on Friday opened a new corridor for rebels and civilians who want to leave the besieged eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo, a move that’s part of a Russia-announced pause in the fighting and which the rebels in the city have already dismissed.

Residents in eastern Aleppo have said many won’t go since there are no guarantees that the evacuees won’t be arrested by government forces.

Even as the corridor opened along Aleppo’s main artery to the north, the Castello Road, intense clashes and shelling erupted in the Jobar neighbourhood in the capital of Damascus, activists and residents said.

The pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV aired live footage from the Castello Road showing bulldozers that had opened the road. Buses and ambulances were parked by the roadside, waiting to take evacuees.

The pause in Aleppo fighting was announced by Russia to allow for the evacuation of civilians and fighters, as well as the wounded. Rebels have rejected the offer, saying it isn’t serious.

By midday Friday, no evacuations were seen along the Aleppo corridor.

“No one has left the city so far,” said Mohammed Abu Rajab, who works at an eastern Aleppo hospital that was repeatedly hit over the past weeks, knocking it out of service. “People are worried they might be detained. There are no guarantees.”

The collapse of the last truce was followed by some of the worst bombing of Aleppo in years.

In Geneva, the UN human rights chief said the Syrian city of Aleppo is “a slaughterhouse” and urged the Human Rights Council to set aside “political disagreements” to focus on suffering civilians.

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein delivered the stark remarks in an address by videoconference to the 47-member UN-backed rights body on Friday as it opened a special session on Aleppo.