WASHINGTON - Russian proposals for humanitarian corridors to evacuate people from Eastern Ghouta in Syria are a 'joke' and people are afraid to use them for fear of conscription, exile or death, the US State Department said on Thursday. 'The idea that Russia is calling for a so-called humanitarian corridor, I want to be clear, is a joke,' State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a briefing. Residents fear using such corridors because they could be conscripted into Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, never return to their homes, or be killed, she said.
