Fear mounts for Aleppo

The UN yesterday urged Russia to give it control of humanitarian passages out of Aleppo in northern Syria where besieged residents cowered indoors afraid to use what some called "death corridors".

Syrian regime ally Russia has announced the opening of three humanitarian passages for civilians wanting to flee rebel-held eastern districts of the city and for fighters to surrender.

But only 12 Aleppo residents trickled out through one passageyesterday, while others wanting to flee were turned back by rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

An AFP correspondent in east Aleppo said streets were empty in the morning with residents holed up indoors and shops shuttered.

Ahmad Ramadan from the opposition Syrian National Coalition accused Russia and the regime of forcing civilians to flee through continued bombing raids.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said Russia should let the United Nations take charge of the corridors as a reassurance to the beleaguered population.

"Our suggestion is to Russia to actually leave the corridors being established at their initiative to us," he said. "How can you expect people to want to walk through a corridor, thousands of them, while there is shelling, bombing, fighting?"

The UN says around 250,000 people have been trapped in Aleppo's eastern districts since July 17 when pro-regime forces surrounded the area.

Residents have reported food shortages and spiralling prices in rebel districts since regime forces cut off the opposition's main supply route into the northern city.

Aid agencies and analysts said the humanitarian corridors must be exploited to send desperately needed supplies to the besieged areas which has not received any medical aid since July 7.

The US-based International Rescue Committee warned that those left behind in east Aleppo risked starvation and called for a pause in fighting.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Thursday that three humanitarian corridors were being opened "to aid civilians held hostage by terrorists and for fighters wishing to lay down their arms".

Losing Aleppo would be a major blow for the armed opposition and could signal a turning point in Syria's five-year-old conflict, analysts say.

Meanwhile, a maternity hospital supported by Save the Children was bombed in an air raid in Idlib province of northwest Syria, causing casualties and heavy damage, the Britain-based charity said. It said there was an unspecified number of casualties. The Observatory said the hospital in the rebel-held town of Kafar Takharim was heavily damaged and left barely operational.

The Observatory said that the death toll from coalition strikes Thursday on the IS-controlled town of Ghandoura had risen to 28 civilians, including children. The US military acknowledged Thursday that there may have been civilian deaths.