Bashar Assad offers amnesty to rebels who surrender to authorities

Russia says it will join Syria in starting a humanitarian operation in Aleppo

Syrian president Bashar Assad has offered an amnesty to rebels who lay down their arms and surrender to authorities over the next three months.

The offer was issued through a decree and urged that all detainees be freed. It said those who free their captives will be exempt from punishment if they turn themselves in within a month, according to state-run news agency SANA.

“Everyone carrying arms... and sought by justice... is excluded from full punishment if they hand themselves in and lay down their weapons,” SANA said, quoting a presidential decree on the three-month amnesty offer.

The offer coincides with a government offensive which has completely encircled rebels in the eastern part of the city of Aleppo.

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Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday the Russian and Syrian militaries would start a large-scale humanitarian operation in Aleppo during which civilians and militants would be given the chance to leave the city.

Mr Shoigu spoke a day after the Syrian army said it had cut off all supply routes into eastern Aleppo and the government air-dropped leaflets there, asking residents to cooperate with the army and calling on fighters to surrender.

"On behalf of the president of the Russian Federation, today, (we will) start a large-scale humanitarian operation together with the Syrian government to help civilians in Aleppo," Mr Shoigu said in televised comments.

He said three safe corridors would be established by the Russian and Syrian militaries for civilians to leave what was once Syria’s largest city, but which is now divided between rebel-controlled and government-held sectors.

Mr Shoigu complained that the military had received no information from the United States on Nusra Front and Free Syrian Army locations in Aleppo and would therefore open a fourth corridor for militants in the north of the city and near the Castello road.

Mr Shoigu also offered militants the chance to surrender, saying Russia had urged the Syrian government to pardon those who have not committed serious crimes.

Agencies