Russia Says Fighters Rejected Offer to Evacuate from Ghouta

Moscow on Thursday said fighters in Syria's rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta had rejected Russia's offer to evacuate peacefully and were using civilians there as human shields.

The U.S., rights groups and pro-government Syrian press have said Russia is taking part in air strikes that have killed more than 350 people in the enclave over five days, but Moscow has denied the claims.

"A few days ago, our military in Syria suggested to the fighters that they withdraw peacefully from Eastern Ghouta, like the evacuation of fighters and their families that was organized in East Aleppo," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a press conference in Belgrade. 

"The al-Nusra Front and its allies categorically rejected this proposal and continue to shell the city from their positions, using the civilian population of Eastern Ghouta as a human shield," he said.

Lavrov added that Russia was ready to consider a U.N. Security Council draft resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire in Syria as long as it did not include the Islamic State jihadist group or the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's one-time Syria affiliate.

Regime and allied forces have been massing around Eastern Ghouta, in which an estimated 400,000 people live, ahead of a likely ground offensive to flush out holdout Islamist and jihadist groups.

Talks for a deal between the regime and the armed groups controlling Ghouta appear to have stalled.

The Russian military has fought a campaign for over two years in Syria, launched in September 2015 in support of Assad, helping to turn around the multi-front war.