Aleppo: Putin rejects army request to resume air raids

The Russian president told his military to hold the ceasefire over rebel-held eastern Aleppo for the time being.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a request by his military to resume air raids over Syria's rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
The Russian army said on Friday that it had asked the president for authorisation to resume its bombing campaign, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "considers it inappropriate at the current moment", adding the president thought it necessary to "continue the humanitarian pause" in the war-battered city.
The request was made after Syrian opposition fighters launched an assault against the government-held western part of the city, firing rockets and detonating car bombs in a counter assault.
Opposition activists say 15 civilians, including children, were killed in those attacks on government-held western Aleppo. Rebels also targeted a military airbase.

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