Nov 4, 2016

A 10-hour Russian-declared ceasefire for opposition-held areas of Syria's second city Aleppo began on Friday morning with the goal of encouraging civilians and surrendering rebels to leave.

The so-called "humanitarian pause" is the second time Russia and its regime ally have declared passages open for evacuations.

But expectations were low that either civilians or rebels would leave through the eight passages Moscow said were open, with two reserved for fighters.

A similar three-day unilateral ceasefire last month ended with only a handful of people leaving.

Civilians inside besieged east Aleppo expressed fear of crossing into government-held territory, though Moscow and Damascus accused rebels of preventing people who wanted to leave from evacuating.