While there have been some intermittent clashes between Syrian and Nusra Front ground forces around the frontier between the too in Aleppo, the Russian ceasefire has continued to hold, with no reported airstrikes for a second consecutive day of 11-hour ceasefires, with at least two more such days expected.
That’s not to say that the fighting is over in Aleppo, and indeed both sides are reporting heavy fighting at night, though calm still prevails during the 11 hour period designated by the Russians as a ceasefire. As of yet there are not many taking advantage of offers to evacuate the city through designated routes.
And so far, UN talk of having organized medical evacuations hasn’t panned out, with officials saying they’ve been unable to get security guarantees from everyone in the region and proper facilitation to get people in and out of eastern Aleppo within the 11 hour periods.
This lack of tangible evacuations in the ceasefire is adding to Western efforts to slam Russia for not declaring a permanent end to airstrikes against the Nusra Front, which Russia is clearly not interested in doing. Still, continued extensions of the current ceasefire seem like they’ll inevitably convince people it’s safe to flee in the day, even if the nights are still rent by fighting.
Maybe the UN could go in as peacekeepers long enough for the hostages to leave