First humanitarian pause in E. Ghouta disrupted by Syria militants – Russian military

Syrian militants have disrupted the first humanitarian pause in eastern Ghouta and not a single civilian could leave the area because of shelling, TASS quoted Vladimir Zolotukhin, a spokesman for the Russian Reconciliation Center, as saying on Tuesday. A daily humanitarian pause had been declared in eastern Ghouta on instructions from Russian President Vladimir Putin as of February 27 from 07:00 to 12:00 GMT. Zolotukhin said the Syrian government forces observed the declared ceasefire. Al-Watan newspaper reported the head of the political wing of the Jaysh al-Islam group, Mohammed Alloush, as saying that the opposition groups agreed to observe the daily humanitarian pause declared by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu on Monday. However, Alloush reportedly rejected Russia’s proposal to use it for civilians’ exodus, alleging that this is not envisaged by the resolution passed by the UN Security Council on February 24.