ALEPPO: Russia said it would hold talks with Washington on Tuesday on a total rebel withdrawal from Syria’s Aleppo, where the army has made sweeping advances, but opposition factions have rejected any evacuation.
President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have seized two-thirds of the former rebel bastion in east Aleppo since they began an operation to recapture all of the battered second city in mid-November.
The assault has raised an international outcry, but Russia and China on Monday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a seven-day ceasefire in the city.
Tens of thousands of east Aleppo residents have fled to other parts of the city to escape the fighting, which has raised widespread international concern.
The rapid regime gains have left opposition fighters reeling and come ahead of talks in Geneva on Tuesday on a rebel evacuation.
“During the Russian-American consultations the concrete route and timeframe for the withdrawal of all fighters from eastern Aleppo will be agreed upon,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier Monday.
“As soon as these routes and timeframes are agreed on, a ceasefire can come into effect.”
Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the two sides “are close to an agreement on the basic elements”.
But deputy US envoy Michele Sison suggested there was no deal, saying “we will not let Russia string along the Security Council”.
“We will continue bilateral negotiations (with Russia) to relieve the suffering in Aleppo, but we have not reached a breakthrough because Russia wants to keep its military gains,” she added.
Rebel groups swiftly rejected any talk of an evacuation.
