LOC18:30
15:30 GMT
MOSCOW, Feb 26 (KUNA) -- Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu on Monday said that humanitarian corridors would be opened on Tuesday to take civilians from Syria's Eastern Ghouta.
During a meeting with top Russian military commanders, Shoigu said that President Vladimir Putin had ordered opening the corridors to allow civilians to leave the region, daily from 9 a.m. to 02:00 p.m., as of February 27, according to the Russian news agency, Interfax.
The move aims to avoid more civilian victims in Ghouta, Shoigu said, adding that concerned bodies will announce the corridors.
He suggested opening such a corridor in the US-controlled Rukban camp to secure return of normal conditions there.
In the meantime, the Defense Minister called for forming an international commission under the UN umbrella, to assess the catastrophic situation in Raqqa, saying that media has not been allowed into the city since the US-led International Cooperation liberated it from the so-called Islamic State (IS).
On Saturday, the UNSC adopted unanimously a resolution demanding parties to Syria's conflict to cease hostilities without delay for at least 30 consecutive days, ensuring a "durable humanitarian pause" to enable weekly humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations of the critically sick and wounded. (end)
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