Alwaght- Terrorists in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta disrupted a truce agreement by shelling the humanitarian corridor and prevented civilians from leaving, the Russian Center for Reconciliation said.
“As of 14:30 local time, no one has left the area,” Major General Vladimir Zolotukhin, a spokesman for the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, told journalists on Tuesday. “The militants do not let anyone out,” he said, adding that the situation on the ground remained “complicated” as the militants continued to shell the neighboring area, and even went on offensive against the Syrian Army positions.
The armed groups had been carrying out provocations for some five hours by conducting shelling around every 30 minutes, the general said, noting that the Syrian government forces observed the humanitarian pause and did not respond to the incitement. The attacks also targeted the recently established Eastern Ghouta humanitarian corridor.
Meanwhile, Syrian news agency SANA, terrorists from al-Nusra Front and other affiliated terrorist organizations continued targeting with shells the safe corridor set up for the evacuation of civilians from Ghouta at al-Wafideeen Camp in Damascus Countryside.
The report added that the terrorist groups fired five shells at the surroundings of the safe corridor to scare civilians so that they would not approach it.
The terrorists did not just disrupt the humanitarian pause by continuing to shell neighboring areas but used it to launch a full scale offensive on the positions of the Syrian Army, the head of the Russian Reconciliation Center said. The armed groups also conducted mortar shelling of the humanitarian corridor on two occasions, with some shells hitting the area just 500 meters away from a checkpoint.
The Western media, however, place the blame for the situation in Eastern Ghouta solely on Damascus and Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called on the armed opposition groups to comply with the UN demands and observe the ceasefire. “I would like to express hope that the opposition [groups] that, according to the UN data, continue to shell Damascus, would take responsibility and put up with the necessity to comply with the UN Security Council’s demands,” the minister said during a joint conference with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in Moscow on Tuesday.
The United Nations also said fighting raged on in the Eastern Ghouta district of Syria on Tuesday, despite the five-hour truce.
On Saturday the United Nations Security Council unanimously votes in favor of a resolution demanding a 30-day truce in Syria 'without delay' to allow aid access and medical evacuations.
