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Moscow extends Aleppo ceasefire by 24 hours as rebels say ‘we will not accept any Russian conditions’
Oct. 20, 2016

AMMAN: The Russian Ministry of Defense extended a temporary pause in the bombing of rebel-held east Aleppo Thursday evening after a day of pro-opposition protests denouncing the unilateral ceasefire along with sporadic gunfire and shelling within the city.

Moscow extended what it called a “humanitarian truce” by 24 hours at 5pm Damascus time on Thursday, two hours before the first 11-hour truce was set to expire, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. Armed rebel groups in east Aleppo, meanwhile, continue to reject the ceasefire.

“We will not accept any conditions that Russia—an occupying country—is trying to impose on the opposition… including a Russian-proposed humanitarian ceasefire,” Al-Farooq Ahrar, a rebel commander with Ahrar a-Sham in east Aleppo, told Syria Direct on Thursday.

“We’re preparing to begin a battle to break the siege of Aleppo.”

There were no airstrikes in east Aleppo on Thursday, although sporadic gunfire and rocket attacks were reported along the frontline that divides Syria’s largest city. Syrian state media claimed rebel shelling the same day had killed one civilian in government-held west Aleppo.



As part of the ceasefire, the regime opened humanitarian corridors for any families fleeing the city, people requiring urgent medical care and any rebel looking to surrender, according to SANA. The Syrian Arab Army dropped fliers over encircled east Aleppo city Thursday morning, indicating eight corridors leading out of rebel-held neighborhoods.

Pro-regime and pro-opposition accounts of Thursday’s events diverged sharply. SANA reported that “terrorist organizations” fired rockets on a corridor near the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood

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north of the city’s ancient citadel. Meanwhile, three residents of east Aleppo told Syria Direct that regime snipers fired on civilians in the same area.

Bustan al-Qasr has witnessed intense fighting between rebels and government troops in recent weeks.

“We’re telling residents to get as far away from the Bustan al-Qasr area as possible for their own safety,” Ibrahim Abu al-Layth, a spokesman for the Aleppo Civil Defense, told Syria Direct early Thursday afternoon. “In addition to sniper fire, the regime is shooting on the crossing with heavy automatic fire.”

Syria Direct could not independently verify the claim of regime snipers.

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Originally posted by G:

While the US aided Iraqi army is destroying ISIS, Russia and the Syrian Government bomb helpless civilians. Well done!

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Originally posted by kpo:
"Protest" - no. Reject, yes.

A ceasefire is 2-sided.

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The rebels are saying they are not going to abide by it, and will carry on fighting.

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The context to this of course is Russia's history of negotiating ceasefires and then breaking them

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to take advantage of the element of surprise, or simply using them to prepare for big offensives.

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Russia can "pause" bombing if it wants, and even call it a "humanitarian pause", but the reality, as the rebels know, is that they are preparing for their most intense bombardment and attack on the city yet.

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Originally posted by G:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Cartoon

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If you were half as intelligent as you try and have us believe you would realize the sadness and Truth in that cartoon. But it's not the truth you think it is - much, much different.

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Yeah but she's not G.

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Intelligence and trolling do not mix.

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Oh, and BTW ... do you have anything intelligent to say about intelligence? Or are you just going to keep on launching stupid and pointless attacks?

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This is your [G's] entire, hate-filled, TROLLING "contribution" to this thread:

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Those early Soviet Kikis always were a bit twitchy.

I *admire* how you are able to lie for yourself AND other people. You really should run for office. Seriously, there's enough stupid people who would listen to your noise that you could get elected to just about anything. 'Course, then you'd find out how you had absolutely no clue what you were talking about before hand. No worries! You'll just lie to yourself about that as well.

No it isn't. I've listed your lies before, so you saying I haven't is also a lie. Funny.

I really don't have to show anyone anything. There are maybe 20 people here and I'm guessing that like this election, they've already made their mind up about you and me and anyone else posting.

Curious - Why are you so happy for a bump for a thread where you look so bad? Kremlin still counting your posts? Is that what matters to you the most, Bump over Truth?
But of course, in every post in every thread. She is a duty bound foot soldier.

Her being "okay with secession" is the spin from Commie HQ re: Crimea. "They wanted to be invaded, er, I mean freed."

If anything T. I take some comfort in the fact that our Commies are such obvious Dummies.
Yeah, that was soundly debunked by you many times. You are the queen of not knowing what a discussion is or being able to have one. Seriously - 2 years, you should have learned something about yourself.

SIG thinks we should receive her lies and subjective posts as factual, instead of as bullshit from notorious sources.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Oh, and BTW ... do you have anything intelligent to say about intelligence? Or are you just going to keep on launching stupid and pointless attacks?

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Well yes, as a matter of fact, I do. But since you aren't prepared to discuss the topic (even though YOU were the one who brought up "intelligence" as one of the key differences between Republicans and Democrats) I'm not going to even try.

And are you sure you want to bring up the topic of "personal attacks"? I'd be happy to quote you from this thread, as I did in another below. So you might want to - yanno- edit out some all of your posts. Just in case.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=60199

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This is your [G's] entire, hate-filled, TROLLING "contribution" to this thread:

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Those early Soviet Kikis always were a bit twitchy.

I *admire* how you are able to lie for yourself AND other people. You really should run for office. Seriously, there's enough stupid people who would listen to your noise that you could get elected to just about anything. 'Course, then you'd find out how you had absolutely no clue what you were talking about before hand. No worries! You'll just lie to yourself about that as well.

No it isn't. I've listed your lies before, so you saying I haven't is also a lie. Funny.

I really don't have to show anyone anything. There are maybe 20 people here and I'm guessing that like this election, they've already made their mind up about you and me and anyone else posting.

Curious - Why are you so happy for a bump for a thread where you look so bad? Kremlin still counting your posts? Is that what matters to you the most, Bump over Truth?
But of course, in every post in every thread. She is a duty bound foot soldier.

Her being "okay with secession" is the spin from Commie HQ re: Crimea. "They wanted to be invaded, er, I mean freed."

If anything T. I take some comfort in the fact that our Commies are such obvious Dummies.
Yeah, that was soundly debunked by you many times. You are the queen of not knowing what a discussion is or being able to have one. Seriously - 2 years, you should have learned something about yourself.

SIG thinks we should receive her lies and subjective posts as factual, instead of as bullshit from notorious sources.

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100% trolling and personal attacks from you. So thanks for expressing exposing yourself. And, of course, haters are gonna hate, but - as always - thanks for the bump!

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Originally posted by G:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Supposedly, people of east Aleppo are "starving". Do these look like "starving" people to you?

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You're so right - they need to be bombed some more.

The moment you post something intelligent we might be able to have a discussion.

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Supposedly, people of east Aleppo are "starving". Do these look like "starving" people to you? = SIGNY

You're so right - they need to be bombed some more.
The moment you post something intelligent we might be able to have a discussion.= G

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Now I wanted to say something about the picture that I posted, of the demonstration against the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire.
Supposedly, people of east Aleppo are "starving". Do these look like "starving" people to you?
I dunno- to me they look pretty well-fed and energetic. And, where did they get all of those nice clean FLAGS?
Either east Aleppo isn't in as dire straits as the so-called "rebels" would have you believe, or -more likely- the so-called "rebels" are commandeering the food for themselves and their supporters. After all, they're clearly being supplied by somebody outside east Aleppo ... you don't get that much fabric and hand-stitch those kinds of flags in a dark basement while you're starving.

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I’ve been trying to figure out what common trait binds Clinton supporters together. As far as I can tell, the most unifying characteristic is a willingness to bully in all its forms.

If you have a Trump sign in your lawn, they will steal it.
If you have a Trump bumper sticker, they will deface your car.
if you speak of Trump at work you could get fired.
On social media, almost every message I get from a Clinton supporter is a bullying type of message. They insult. They try to shame. They label. And obviously they threaten my livelihood.
We know from Project Veritas that Clinton supporters tried to incite violence at Trump rallies. The media downplays it.
We also know Clinton’s side hired paid trolls to bully online. You don’t hear much about that. Yesterday, by no coincidence, Huffington Post, Salon, and Daily Kos all published similar-sounding hit pieces on me, presumably to lower my influence. (That reason, plus jealousy, are the only reasons writers write about other writers.)
Joe Biden said he wanted to take Trump behind the bleachers and beat him up. No one on Clinton’s side disavowed that call to violence because, I assume, they consider it justified hyperbole.

Team Clinton has succeeded in perpetuating one of the greatest evils I have seen in my lifetime. Her side has branded Trump supporters (40%+ of voters) as Nazis, sexists, homophobes, racists, and a few other fighting words. Their argument is built on confirmation bias and persuasion. But facts don’t matter because facts never matter in politics. What matters is that Clinton’s framing of Trump provides moral cover for any bullying behavior online or in person. No one can be a bad person for opposing Hitler, right?

Some Trump supporters online have suggested that people who intend to vote for Trump should wear their Trump hats on election day. That is a dangerous idea, and I strongly discourage it. There would be riots in the streets because we already know the bullies would attack. But on election day, inviting those attacks is an extra-dangerous idea. Violence is bad on any day, but on election day, Republicans are far more likely to unholster in an effort to protect their voting rights. Things will get wet fast.

Yes, yes, I realize Trump supporters say bad things about Clinton supporters too. I don’t defend the bad apples on either side. I’ll just point out that Trump’s message is about uniting all Americans under one flag. The Clinton message is that some Americans are good people and the other 40% are some form of deplorables, deserving of shame, vandalism, punishing taxation, and violence. She has literally turned Americans on each other. It is hard for me to imagine a worse thing for a presidential candidate to do.

I’ll say that again.

As far as I can tell, the worst thing a presidential candidate can do is turn Americans against each other. Clinton is doing that, intentionally.

Intentionally.

As I often say, I don’t know who has the best policies. I don’t know the best way to fight ISIS and I don’t know how to fix healthcare or trade deals. I don’t know which tax policies are best to lift the economy. I don’t know the best way to handle any of that stuff. (And neither do you.) But I do have a bad reaction to bullies. And I’ve reached my limit.

I hope you have too. Therefore…

I endorse Donald Trump for President of the United States because I oppose bullying in all its forms.

I don’t defend Trump’s personal life. Neither Trump nor Clinton are role models for our children. Let’s call that a tie, at worst.

The bullies are welcome to drown in their own bile while those of us who want a better world do what we’ve been doing for hundreds of years: Work to make it better while others complain about how we’re doing it.

Today I put Trump’s odds of winning in a landslide back to 98%. Remember, I told you a few weeks ago that Trump couldn’t win unless “something changed.”

Something just changed.

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Hundreds of thousands have fled Aleppo or died from the violence. But many remain -- and not necessarily by choice.
About 1.5 million people

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live in regime-held parts of Aleppo, according to the United Nations.

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The part most devastated by airstrikes, rebel-held eastern Aleppo, has about 250,000-275,000 residents

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who are trapped by government troops. There are "no ways to get out of this city. It's completely under siege,"

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said Abdulraham Almawwas, vice president of the White Helmets, a [part-time ]civil defense volunteer group

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For those wounded by the airstrikes, medical care is hard to come by. Roughly 30 doctors remain in the eastern part of the city -- about 1 doctor for every 10,000 people, said Adham Sahloul, spokesman for the Syrian American Medical Society.
Life in rebel-held Aleppo: 'It is horrifying'

In the eastern neighborhood of Al-Shaar, Mohammed spends much of his day searching for food to feed his wife, mother and 2-year-old son.

"There is some bread in Aleppo, but you have to search well to find it," said the 29-year-old, whom CNN is not identifying for safety reasons.

The government siege around rebel-held Aleppo has choked off the supply of food, fuel and other daily necessities.

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The regime has used this tactic -- dubbed "Starve or Surrender" -- before, including in the opposition stronghold of Homs. That city suffered mass starvation.

Mohammed, the young father, says every day is a struggle for survival.

"Basically, my whole daylight is just me trying to find stuff," he said. And when he does find food, "it is insanely expensive," describing prices 50 times higher than they were six years ago. Mohammed declined to describe his job, saying it would likely identify him. But he says business is almost nonexistent.

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"Now I don't have any more work to do, so I am living on some savings," he said.
The Aleppo native said he wishes he left before the government siege began.

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"The regime has been bombarding the city over the last three years. It's very, very hard to live here," he said. "The new (bunker-buster) missiles are horrible. I can't stand living here anymore. It is a nightmare."

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Mohammed said he doesn't have the money to leave.

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"I can't afford to go to Turkey with my wife, son and mother. It would cost me around $8,000 -- at least -- just to get to Turkey," he said.

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"And then I don't even have any idea what can happen next, and if I will be able to work."

Mohammed said if he's able to escape, he'd like to go to a rebel-held part of the Aleppo countryside. "I don't trust the regime," he said. "They would arrest me for sure."

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Life in regime-held Aleppo: 'We are being shelled regularly' Even parts of western Aleppo are under attack.

Salam, a 35-year-old mother of two, says she has to tread carefully when walking her son to school.

"It is not safe. We are being shelled regularly by the opposition with mortars," said Salam, whom CNN is not identifying for safety reasons.

"When I take my kid to school, we try to walk under the balconies and try to stay away from open areas. We don't walk in open streets. And we try to reduce the time we spend out of our home as much as possible."

Why she stays:
Like Mohammed, Salam was born in Aleppo. But unlike Mohammed, she actually wants to stay.
Salam is luckier than many of the residents living on the other side of Aleppo. She still has a workplace and job, teaching French at the same school her son attends.

"If the situation stayed like this security-wise, I think I will stay, because I don't want to live in a tent. Also, I don't want to be very poor and not be able to pay rent and bills," she said.

"We also don't want to lose the house. We worked for years to buy it."

The Syrian regime recently released a tourism video promoting Aleppo. The panoramic views of government-held parts were accompanied by an acoustic version of the theme music to the HBO television series "Game of Thrones."

Some may find the "Game of Thrones" music an odd choice, since the show's fictional world of Westeros is a violent place engaged in its own bloody civil war.

The aerial shots feature wide, green streets and swimming pools.

And last month, Syrian state-run media mocked the notion that Aleppo was one of the "world's most dangerous" cities, tweeting a video of locals enjoying the city's "thriving nightlife."

Locals discovered they can heat the plastic from broken chairs and pipes in a boiler and turn it into fuel, CNN affiliate RFE/RL'S Radio Farda reported.

"We can't explain it exactly, but if the waste plastic is from good material, the output of this process is gasoline," one man said. "If the plastic quality isn't good, the end product is diesel."

But that's just one temporary fix. If Aleppo doesn't survive past December -- as de Mistura portended could happen -- the crisis may get even more catastrophic.

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That's why Mohammed wishes he could leave, like the millions of refugees who have managed to escape.

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