BISHKEK (Kyrgyzstan), (Sputnik) — Russia periodically reminds its Western partners that the humanitarian aftereffect of the US-backed military campaign in Mosul, Iraq is worse than in Aleppo, Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.
"We remind to our Western partners periodically, because there is a much more serious humanitarian situation than the one that was in eastern Aleppo," Lavrov told reporters in Kyrgyzstan.
The Syrian city of Aleppo, which was considered the economic capital of the country before the beginning of the civil war in 2011, had been under militants' control for several years and had been significantly damaged during the conflict. The city was liberated by government forces from militant groups in December 2016, however several militant and extremist groups are still fighting in the province.
The operation to liberate Mosul from Daesh terrorists, outlawed in many countries, including Russia, began on October 17, 2016. Iraqi troops have managed to advance in the eastern part of the city, but the western part — on the right bank of the Tigris River — remains under militant control.