"Syrian Army Controls 93% of Aleppo - Russian MoD - BREAKING NEWS" (UPDATED 9:10am EST)

See updated report below. Unless the editor forgot to remove the "DETAILS TO FOLLOW" note from the initial report, more details are on the way.    

Sputnik
16:42 - December 9, 2012 (updated 16:43)

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Sputnik update 17:05:

The Syrian army controls 93 percent of the whole territory of Aleppo, the Russian General Staff said.

"As a result of a successful advance, 52 districts of eastern Aleppo have been freed from militants. Over the past 4 days, territory controlled by militants decreased by one third. The Syrian army controls 93% of the city's territory," Sergei Rudskoy, the chief of the Russian General Staff Main Operational Directorate, said at a news briefing. 

The Russian General Staff said that Aleppo's residents report torture, public executions by the so-called "moderate opposition," the Russian General Staff said. 

"Civilians who escaped from terrorists talk about new crimes committed by militants of the so-called moderate opposition in eastern Aleppo. Cases of torture, public executions and massacres of the population have been confirmed." 

Over 3,000 Aleppo residents returned to their houses in the city, Rudskoy said. He said that dozens of tons of humanitarian aid are delivered to liberated Aleppo districts on a daily basis.

More than 1,000 militants have surrendered arms and left eastern Aleppo, 953 of them have been granted amnesty, Gen. Lt. Sergei Rudskoy said.

Russian and Syrian warplanes have not carried out airstrikes around Aleppo since October 18, he said. "I emphasize that such results [in Aleppo's liberation] have been achieved by Syrian army's ground forces." 

According to Rudskoy, 21 facilities, including two schools and two mosques, have been cleared of explosive devices in Aleppo over the past 24 hours. Over 1,040 settlements have joined the ceasefire in Syria, the General Staff said. 
DETAILS TO FOLLOW

[END REPORT]

********