Russia announces 8-hour Aleppo cease-fire as EU raises 'war crime' rap

Russia said Monday its forces and Syrian regime troops would briefly halt fire in Aleppo on Thursday, in an announcement coinciding with mounting criticism of the assault on the Syrian city.
“We have taken a decision not to waste time and to introduce ‘humanitarian pauses', mainly for the free passage of civilians, evacuation of the sick and wounded and withdrawal of fighters,” senior Russian military officer Sergei Rudskoi said at a briefing, adding the cease-fire would be on “October 20 from 0800 to 1600 (0500 GMT to 1300 GMT) in the area of Aleppo.”
The announcement came just after the European Union condemned Syrian and Russian air strikes on the rebel-held part of Aleppo, singling out Moscow for deliberately targeting hospitals and medical personnel.
“Since the beginning of the offensive by the regime and its allies, notably Russia, the intensity and scale of the aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo is clearly disproportionate,” said the statement agreed by the EU’s 28 governments.
“The deliberate targeting of hospitals, medical personnel, schools and essential infrastructure, as well as the use of barrel bombs, cluster bombs, and chemical weapons ... may amount to war crimes,” EU foreign ministers agreed in Luxembourg. 
Early Monday, Syria’s Civil Defense group known as “White Helmets” said 14 members of a family were killed in an air strike in rebel-held eastern Aleppo as the Syrian government pursued its Russian-backed campaign to capture opposition-held areas of the city.
A list of the dead published by thegroup included several infants, among them two six-week old babies and six other children aged eight or below. The group identified the jets as Russian. The attack hit the city’s Al-Marjeh area.
The campaign has killed several hundred people since it started last month after the collapse of a truce brokered by Russia and the United States. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 448 people in air strikes in eastern Aleppo since then, including 82 children.
Syrian and Russian militaries say they only target militants.
Since the campaign was announced on Sept. 22, the government has captured territory from rebels to the north of the city, and also reported advances in the city itself which rebels have in turn said they have mostly repelled.

Source: Arab News