Syrian army announces 'humanitarian pause' on Friday

The civilians can also leave through six passages the army had previously identified to government-controlled areas in western Aleppo.

Damascus, Nov 3 The Syrian army has announced a 10-hour-long "humanitarian pause" that is scheduled to go into force on Friday, according to officials.

The general-command of the Syrian army on Wednesday said it had decided to observe a "humanitarian pause" on Friday from 9.00 a.m. until 7.00 p.m., to give civilians and rebels also a chance to leave rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo city, Xinhua news agency reported.

The statement said the rebels can leave Aleppo through the Castello road and the Souk al-Khair crossing toward rebel-held areas in the province of Idlib.

The civilians can also leave through six passages the army had previously identified to government-controlled areas in western Aleppo.

The new, brief truce is not the first to be announced by the Syrian army.

Last month, a three-day truce, unilaterally announced by Russia and the Syrian government, failed to achieve its intended goal of giving the civilians a pause to leave rebel-held areas and also failed to push the rebels to leave Aleppo city.

The Syrian government then accused the rebels of forcefully preventing the departure of civilians from eastern Aleppo.

IANS