Russian president Vladimir Putin had ordered a five-hour daily humanitarian pause to allow civilians to exit the region. The daily pauses began on Tuesday, but so far, no humanitarian aid has gone in – and no civilians have left. He said that no aid has been sent to eastern Ghouta because “we did not get a single facilitation letter by the government”. The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, insisted that a government-led assault on eastern Ghouta must not devolve into a “copycat” of the bloody siege on Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said before the truce went into effect on Thursday, government shelling and air strikes on eastern Ghouta killed three people.

Source: Irish Independent March 01, 2018 15:11 UTC