Local Sources Reject Allegations about Airstrikes on Aleppo

Hessam Fakour, a local resident of al-Ansari neighborhood, refuted the claims, saying no Russian or Syrian warplanes has flewn over Aleppo since last night.

Ali Mahmoud, another local source in al-Sukri neighborhood, also denied the claims, saying that militants are looking for continued war to impose their terms of agreement after the Tuesday night pressure of the western countries on the Damascus government and its allies.

He underlined that civilians in Eastern Aleppo were expecting to return to normal life after announcement of ceasefire and evacuation of terrorists from these neighborhoods.

He further added that while the introductory steps of terrorists’ evacuation from Aleppo had been taken, “a group of terrorists that opposed their evacuation from the city targeted convoy of vehicles and disturbed the ceasefire”.

AP claimed in a report earlier today that fighter jets have resumed bombing raids over remaining rebel areas in Eastern Aleppo.

The news agency quoted a media activist, Mahmoud Raslan, as saying the aircraft bombed the rebel Ansari district in the city on Wednesday.

The AP report yet said it was not clear whether the planes were Syrian or Russian.

Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin had told the UN Security Council meeting in New York on Tuesday that the fighting in Eastern Aleppo stopped and the Syrian government regained control over the territory after the withdrawal of militants from the city was agreed.

But, terrorists resumed fire Wednesday morning and pushed the deal into complete failure.

Following the attacks, evacuation of the last group of militants from the Eastern part of the Syrian city of Aleppo delayed, if not cancelled at all.

“Everything has been ready for the withdrawal (of militants from Aleppo) since the night fell,” RIA Novosti quoted a sources as saying, adding “It was expected that the withdrawal would start early in the morning, but it has not started yet”.

Another news website reported that Fatah al-Sham Front (previously known as the al-Nusra Front) is disturbing the exit trend of the militants from Aleppo city.

The Syrian Army troops and popular forces restarted their attacks on Jeish al-Fatah’s positions in the Eastern districts of Aleppo city after the militants breached the truce.

Militants in Aleppo violated the agreement on leaving the city and used the ceasefire to regroup and begin hostilities again, the Russian Peace Coordination Center in Syria said in a statement on Wednesday.

The center added that it had prepared means for evacuation of militants to Idlib, in accordance with the deal reached by the Syrian authorities and the militants.

“When the transport arrived at the previously agreed loading place, the militants began shelling the convoy. Having used the ceasefire, the militants regrouped at dawn and renewed hostilities, trying to break through the positions of the Syrian army in the Northwestern direction,” the statement read.

According to the statement, the army repelled the attack and continued the operation to liberate Eastern Aleppo.

Media reports say the buses that have gone to Aleppo to take militants and civilians out of the city returned to depots.