Russia for daily truce in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta
BEIRUT/MOSCOW: Russia will establish a humanitarian corridor and implement a five-hour daily truce in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, it said on Monday, after a UN Security Council resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire across the entire country.
Over the past week, Syria’s army and its allies have subjected the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus to one of the heaviest bombardments of the seven-year war, killing hundreds.
On Sunday, health authorities said several people had suffered symptoms consistent with chlorine gas exposure and on Monday, rescue workers and a war monitor said seven small children were killed by air and artillery strikes in one town.
Fighting has raged across Syria since Saturday’s resolution, as Turkey presses its offensive against a Kurdish militia in Afrin, rival rebel groups fight each other in Idlib and a Us-led coalition targets Islamic State in the east..
Russia’s defence minister was cited by the RIA news agency as saying President Vladimir Putin had ordered a daily ceasefire in eastern Ghouta from 9am to 2pm each day and for the creation of a “humanitarian corridor” to allow civilians to leave.
Russia, along with Iran and Shia militias, is a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-assad and it joined the war on his side in 2015, helping him claw back important areas.
INDIAN-ORIGIN WOMAN HELD FOR I.S. LINKS
South African special police unit Hawks arrested an Indian-origin woman and her partner, both allegedly linked to Islamic State, on charges of abducting a British couple. Fatima Patel and Safydeen Aslam Del Vecchio also face charges of robbery and theft after they went on a spending spree using the couples’ credit cards, building up a stash of jewellery, camping equipment and electronic devices.