BEIRUT/MOSCOW: Syrian rebels Wednesday swiftly rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer for a new humanitarian pause in the war-ravaged Aleppo, urging rebels to use it to leave the city’s besieged districts.

“This is completely out of the question. We will not give up the city of Aleppo to the Russians and we won’t surrender,” Zakaria Malahifji of the Tajamu Fastaqem Kama Umert rebel group told Reuters.

Putin has ordered that the aid corridors – which Russia had opened earlier – also be open Friday, for longer hours, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., along with two new exit routes for the rebels to leave eastern Aleppo “in order to prevent a senseless loss of life,” the Defense Ministry said.

One exit leads to the Turkish border, the other to the city of Idlib, according to the ministry.

Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov was “calling on all leaders of armed groups directly to cease hostilities and leave Aleppo with their weapons.”

Gerasimov also said the rebel offensive on the Syrian government-held districts in western Aleppo, which was launched last week, has failed to break through the siege.

“They have no chance to break out of the city,” he added.

Rebel groups in Aleppo described Russia’s latest offer as a media stunt for “public consumption.”

Yasser al-Youssef, a spokesman for the Nour al-Din al-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.

Molhem Ekaidi, a Fastaqem deputy commander, also accused the Russians of lying. “The [Russian] shelling and crimes continue and their planes have not left the skies of Aleppo,” he said.

On the ground, fierce clashes between pro-government and rebel forces continued in areas around the 1070 Apartments Project south of Aleppo and on the western fronts of the city amid heavy aerial support, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the next U.S. administration would have to work with Moscow to solve world crises, and argued that other countries involved in Syrian peace negotiations have “sabotaged” the process by backing militant groups intent on toppling Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Lavrov spoke Wednesday at the start of a visit to Greece, a NATO and European Union member that has maintained close ties with Russia. He did not name any countries.

“If you remember a few months ago [President Barack] Obama said just that: ‘We are the ones who should lay down the rules.’ It may have been arrogant but at least he was honest,” Lavrov said.

“If this is the way our American partners think, it means we will have to go through a painful period of realization that no one can do anything on their own.”