The Russian president Putin declared another unilateral ceasefire in east-Aleppo for Friday:
"A decision was made to introduce a 'humanitarian pause' in Aleppo on November 4 from 9:00 am (0600 GMT) to 19:00," the chief of Russia's General Staff Valery Gerasimov said in a statement on Wednesday.
Gerasimov said the decision was approved by Syrian authorities and was meant to "prevent senseless casualties" by allowing civilians and armed combatants to quit rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
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Defence ministry Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that Russia had ceased air strikes on eastern Aleppo for 16 days, following criticism over a Russian-backed Syrian government assault that has killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed infrastructure, including hospitals.
This is probably the last ceasefire on offer before al-Qaeda and CIA proxy forces in east-Aleppo are attacked in full force.
These head-chopping "rebels" rejected the Russian offer:
Rebel groups in Aleppo dismissed Russia's latest offer, with one of the groups describing it as a media stunt for "public consumption."
Yasser al-Youssef, a spokesman for the Nour el-Din el-Zinki rebel group, said Russia "is not serious" and its latest initiatives "don't concern us." He added that the Russian leader's comments do not reflect the reality on the ground.
The great "rebel" attack from Idleb in the west on Aleppo to open a corridor to the government besieged "rebel" area in east-Aleppo has failed. Local fighting is still ongoing but the main attack has stopped. Most of the major hardware of the attacking "rebels", tanks and multiple rocket launchers on trucks, have been destroyed by the Syrian and Russian artillery and air forces.
The Syrian Army and Russia have assembled major fresh forces in Aleppo. Syrian special forces are preparing for a big attack and Iran supported groups as well as some Russian units are on the ground. On Friday the Russian aircraft-carrier Kuznetsov will arrive on the Syrian coast. It adds some 30 fighter planes and attack helicopters to the assembled land based air forces. The carrier is accompanied by several destroyers and frigates as well as submarines. These add to the air defenses but can also launch salvos of cruise missiles.
But this whole build up may have a different purpose than an all out attack on east-Aleppo.

Open Street map by Agathocle de Syracuse – bigger
North-east-east of Aleppo is Al-Bab, a city held by ISIS (grey) and campaign aim of Turkish (green) as well as Kurdish (yellow) forces. The Kurdish YPG forces (named SDF to disguise them as mixed Kurdish-Arab group) want to connect their areas in northwest-Syria to those in north east-Syria. They need the line from north-Aleppo through Al-Bab to the city of Manbij further east which is already in their hands. They are generally capable and well equipped but their forces are stretched and they lack major artillery and reliable air-support. From the north Turkish proxy "rebel" forces, supported by Turkish artillery from north of the Turkish-Syrian border, have moved south to prevent a Kurdish west-east uniting of their areas and to keep supply lines for ISIS to Turkey open. They are now on the geographic limits of the Turkish artillery support. The Turkish army is reluctant to move its artillery south of the border into Syria. The army is based on conscript forces and the Turkish people would start to make trouble for Erdogan if their drafted sons get killed in Syria. There is also no legal base for an invasion by regular Turkish forces.
The Turkish air force has been supporting the Turkish "rebel" proxies in central Syria. But after it recently bombed and killed about 100 Kurdish fighters northeast of Aleppo the Russian and Syrian air forces have warned it off. Any Turkish plane entering Syrian air space is a legitimate target. The Turks understood the warning and have since stayed out of Syrian airspace.
Turkish supported forces taking Al-Bab could be in preparation of an attack on Aleppo from the east, endangering the Syrian progress in the city. Kurdish forces are known for their notorious unreliability as allies. They change sides for minor bribes or issues. They could probably be trusted to take Al-Bab now without bothering the government forces in Aleppo but that could change any day.
The third possible power to take Al-Bab is the Syrian Arab Army (red on the map). Since it took the Qweiris airbase south of Al-Bab back from ISIS it is only some 10 kilometers away from the city. A second direction of attack could come from the eastern parts of Aleppo. Taking Al-Bab would consolidate the areas between Qweiris and Aleppo and would be a good position to prepare for a later attack on the ISIS "capital" Raqqa southeast of Al-Bab and east of Qweiris. Areas directly north of Al-Bab could be let open for the Kurds to bother with the Turkish supported forces. The Syrian government will not protest when those fight each other.
Starting this weekend we will probably see two Syrian government campaigns. A major bombing campaign against "rebel" positions in east-Aleppo as well as a ground attack by Syrian government forces against Al-Bab. I find this more plausible than an imminent ground attack on "rebels" in east-Aleppo that was not prepared so far by a major campaign from air and artillery forces.
Some big Syrian military "election campaign" will happen in Syria while the U.S. public, government and media are distracted by their election circus. Are the other forces fighting in Syria, the U.S. supported proxies, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, the Turks prepared for such a new Syrian government campaign? Do they have plausible counter moves in store?