WASHINGTON — The United States on July 28 rebuked as a “demand for surrender” a Russian Defense Ministry announcement of “humanitarian corridors” for civilians and unarmed rebels to leave rebel-held eastern Aleppo. But despite the US criticism, Syrian opposition members and Syria analysts said that Aleppo is steadily falling to the Syrian regime, even as US-Russian negotiations on deeper cooperation in Syria continue.
Syrian government forces, backed by Russia, have in recent weeks nearly surrounded rebel-held eastern Aleppo and cut off its main supply route, Castello Road, causing a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 300,000 people living in the almost besieged area.