Cease-Fire Extended in Syria but Fighting Continues

Syria’s nationwide cease-fire was extended for another 72 hours on Tuesday, despite the ongoing fighting around the country.

The extension began at 1 a.m. local time on Tuesday and is set to continue until the same time on Friday morning, according to a statement from the Syrian Armed Forces. This is the second extension since the cease-fire was first announced last week for Eid, the holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Deutsche-Welle reported.

But the cease-fire has had a very limited effect on the ground. Clashes between government-allied forces and armed opposition factions continued into Tuesday in the Damascus countryside around the towns of Maydaa and Hosh al-Fara near the highway that runs between the capital Damascus and Homs, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Monday, at least 28 civilians were killed in government and Russian airstrikes in Aleppo, Idlib and Hama provinces, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR). Also on Monday, the monitoring group reported that Russia had launched cluster munitions on a town in Idlib province.

During the initial cessation of hostilities for Eid, 92 civilians were killed and the government and its allies were responsible for roughly 85 percent of the victims, SNHR reported.

Road to Aleppo Is Completely ‘Impassable’: United Nations

The United Nations called for humanitarian access and civilian evacuation in Aleppo on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

The past week’s fighting between forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and several armed opposition factions has made it impossible for humanitarian convoys to reach Syria’s largest city, the Associated Press reported.

After government advances last week and rebel retaliation yesterday, the contested Castello Road has become “impassable,” leaving some 300,000 people stranded in the city without access to much-needed humanitarian aid, U.N. spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci said at a U.N. briefing on Tuesday.

So far, the siege shows no sign of letting up. The U.N. continues to receive “distressing reports of aerial bombardment and shelling on civilian locations in both western and eastern Aleppo,” Vellucci said.

Two Russian Pilots Die After Their Helicopter Was Shot Down

Two Russian pilots were killed when a helicopter was shot down over the city of Palmyra on Friday, but the initial details of the attack may have been incorrect, the Washington Post reported.

Russia’s defense ministry reported that the pilots were flying an Mi-25 Syrian helicopter while attacking Islamic State group militants in Homs province, when they ran out of ammunition, according to Reuters. The helicopter was then shot down by ISIS, the ministry said.

The so-called Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released by one of its propaganda offices, and showed video footage of the alleged helicopter being shot down, according to the BBC.

The two pilots “had received a request from the Syrian military to carry out strikes against advancing militants,” according to a statement from the Russian defense ministry. “The turning helicopter was hit by militants’ gunfire from the ground and crashed in the area controlled by the Syrian government army. The crew died.”

However, the Washington Post reported that the helicopter in question was not a Syrian Mi-25 but a new, sophisticated Russian Mi-35M helicopter. If true, this aircraft would have been much more difficult to shoot down from the ground, casting doubt over ISIS being responsible and signaling a higher scale of Russian intervention in Syria than Moscow originally reported.

Recommended Reads

• The Los Angeles Times: Doctors Travel a Dangerous Road to Help Ease the Horrors of War-Torn Aleppo, Syria
• The Associated Press: A Look at Senior Lebanese Hezbollah Figures Killed in Syria
• The New York Times: Iran, Once Quiet About Its Casualties in Syria and Iraq, Now Glorifies Them
• Al Jazeera: The Group Saving Syria’s Ancient Sites from Destruction
• The Associated Press: Australian Convicted of Recruiting Seven Men to Fight in Syria