The Russian military is accusing Syria's rebels of shelling a humanitarian corridor that Moscow set up with the Syrian government, offering residents of Damascus' besieged eastern suburbs a way out of the embattled enclave.

Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zolotukhin told Russia news agencies on Thursday that the militants who control the suburbs — an area known as eastern Ghouta — are shelling the route, manned by Syrian and Russian forces, and preventing evacuations.

Syrian state news agency SANA said on Wednesday that some shells had landed near the corridor but reported no injuries.

The accusations come on the third and possibly last day of a Russia-ordered "humanitarian pause" in the fighting in the area, known as eastern Ghouta, but no civilians have used the lull to leave the rebel-held suburbs.