Aleppo City Quiet on 3rd Day of Ceasefire

Calm prevailed across the divided Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday, the third day of a unilateral ceasefire announced by Russia, but medical evacuations and aid deliveries have yet to take place, a war monitor said.

No Syrian or Russian airstrikes on the eastern militant-held side of Aleppo, Syria's most populous city before the war, have been reported since Russia began the pause in attacks on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

But militants have said they cannot accept the ceasefire, which they say does nothing to alleviate the situation of those who choose to remain in militant-held Aleppo and believe it is part of a government policy to purge cities of political opponents, Reuters reported.

The Syrian Army and Russia have called on residents and militants in besieged eastern Aleppo to leave the city through designated corridors and depart for other insurgent-held districts under a promise of safe travel, but few militants or civilians appear to have left.Syrian state media says  militants are preventing civilians from leaving east Aleppo. Pro-government channels broadcast footage of ambulances and green buses parked at empty reception points in government Aleppo, said to be waiting for civilians and fighters from the city's east.

The United Nations had hoped that the ceasefires would allow medical evacuations from the city, but said a lack of security guarantees and facilitation were preventing aid workers from taking advantage of the pause in bombing.