This photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows an injured man sitting inside a Civil Defense van after airstrikes hit near Ghouta, a rebel-held suburb near Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the five-hour pause in eastern Ghouta was preceded by a barrage of airstrikes in the towns of Harasta and Douma, where Syrian troops and allied militia trying to push ahead with a ground offensive on a number of fronts from the east and west clashed with local insurgent groups. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)
The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian military is accusing Syria's rebels of shelling a humanitarian corridor that Moscow set up with the Syrian government, offering residents of Damascus' besieged eastern suburbs a way out of the embattled enclave.
Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zolotukhin told Russia news agencies on Thursday that the militants who control the suburbs - an area known as eastern Ghouta - are shelling the route, manned by Syrian and Russian forces, and preventing evacuations.
Syrian state news agency SANA said on Wednesday that some shells had landed near the corridor but reported no injuries.
The accusations come on the third and possibly last day of a Russia-ordered "humanitarian pause" in the fighting in the area, known as eastern Ghouta, but no civilians have used the lull to leave the rebel-held suburbs.
This photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows injured people inside a Civil Defense van after airstrikes hit near Ghouta, a rebel-held suburb near Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the five-hour pause in eastern Ghouta was preceded by a barrage of airstrikes in the towns of Harasta and Douma, where Syrian troops and allied militia trying to push ahead with a ground offensive on a number of fronts from the east and west clashed with local insurgent groups. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)
The Associated Press