MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The television crew of the RT Arabic broadcaster came under fire near the city of Aleppo in Syria, the media reported on Thursday.
“There was panic. Everybody ran to whatever cover they could find. Our Arabic colleagues got to a house, we got to another one further away,” RT’s correspondent Murad Gazdiev said as quoted by the broadcaster. “By all appearances this was happening on purpose. They were trying to send a message.”
He added that throughout the morning there was a heavy shelling on the government’s checkpoints in the Aleppo area, which was followed by a lull, that made journalists believe that it would be safe to do their job under open sky. However, they came under fire.
A humanitarian pause in Russian and Syrian airstrikes on terrorist positions came into force in Aleppo earlier today. It will last until 7:00 p.m. local time (16:00 GMT). Civilians are encouraged to leave the war zone through six corridors, while two others are reserved for militants willing to lay down their arms.
Earlier in the day, a militia source told RIA Novosti that al-Nusra Front terrorists opened fire on civilians who wanted to leave the Syrian city of Aleppo near the entrance of the Bustan al-Qasr humanitarian corridor.