Lavrov says resistance in Aleppo to end in '2-3 days'

By Hakan Ceyhan Aydogan

MOSCOW

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that the situation in eastern Aleppo would be resolved in the next two or three days.

The beginning of this week saw the Russia-backed Assad regime reestablish control over parts of Aleppo captured four years ago by armed opposition groups, resulting in numerous civilian deaths.

"We think the resistance of armed groups will end in two to three days," Lavrov said.

Lavrov said Russia had established humanitarian corridors for civilians to "safely" leave the Syrian city.

He said it was "important" to end the tragedy in Aleppo. He added that tens of thousands of civilians had already left Aleppo.

Separately, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a group of local officials Wednesday that he would speak later today on the telephone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

According to a Wednesday report by the Russian Center for the reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria, over the past 24 hours nearly 6,000 civilians, including 2,200 children, have been evacuated from Aleppo’s districts held by militants.

In the past two days, numerous civilians in eastern Aleppo have been killed by regime forces -- a situation the UN has described as alarming.

As a result of a Turkish mediation, a cease-fire took into effect as of 7.00 p.m. local time (1700GMT) on Tuesday.

Under the deal, civilians trapped in the conflict-hit zone will be moved via buses to the western part of Aleppo. Opposition fighters would be evacuated after the civilians.

Lavrov also said cooperation with Turkey on Syria would be more "fruitful" than with the U.S.

"We are in dialogue with the countries of the region, particularly with Turkey. Dialogue with Ankara would be more successful than the inconclusive sessions [that we had] with the U.S.," Lavrov said.

Lavrov late Tuesday discussed developments in Syria, especially the situation in Aleppo, in a phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, according to a Turkish diplomatic source.

During the conversation, Cavusoglu stressed the need to evacuate civilians from Aleppo.

According to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement, the top diplomats exchanged views on the situation in Syria and called for ending the violence there "as soon as possible."

"They highlighted the importance of bringing security to Aleppo civilians and delivering humanitarian aid to them with the assistance of international organizations," it added.

It also said both countries reaffirmed their determination to "actively" fight international terrorism.

Meanwhile, Andrei Kelin, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's European Cooperation Department, told Russian news agency Ria Novosti that Russia will continue to cooperate with Ankara on Syria.

"From what I can tell, for us it was much more straightforward to reach agreements with Turkey than with the Americans," Kelin said.

*Diyar Guldogan in Ankara contributed to this report.