Syrian troops capture major Aleppo neighborhood

The Observatory, which relies on a network of informants in the country to monitor the war, said that almost 10,000 civilians had fled east Aleppo overnight on Saturday – at least 6,000 to the Kurdish-controlled northern district of Sheikh Maksoud, with the rest fleeing to government-held areas.

The loss of the city’s east would be a potentially devastating blow for Syria’s rebels, who have seen their territory fall steadily to the government since Russian Federation began an intervention to bolster President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015.

State news agency SANA reported earlier that day that 1,500 civilians were evacuated out of rebel-held eastern Aleppo through exit corridors designated by the Syrian army. Rebels still hold other pockets around Syria, but any movement to unseat Assad will have to reckon with the reality that he holds the country’s four largest cities and its coastal region.

“The White Helmets will be happy if they are allowed to help all Syrians in all areas”.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent said it had registered 4,000 new arrivals in the Jibreen district of government-held western Aleppo. Each collapsed house and rubble-strewn street is being fought over time and again.

Syria’s Al-Watan daily, which is close to the government, said the army was advancing quickly. The United Nations said it was “deeply concerned” about the plight of civilians in the east, which has been besieged for more than four months, with global aid exhausted and food stocks desperately low. “It’s a moral and humanitarian duty, and a patriotic duty, they are Syrians in the end”. “But after four years of brutal stalemate, Assad’s forces have managed to encircle the rebel-held side of the city”.

Western states have condemned the bombing campaign that has killed thousands of people since the major offensive to recapture Aleppo was launched in September.

“Can they hold out?” Among them are 100,000 children, says UNICEF, the UN’s child rights organization.

Several chemical attacks have also been reported over the past two weeks.

“The shelling and aerial bombing does not stop and we and our neighbours chose to leave with the army approaching”, said Abdullah Ansari, who fled Haydariya with his family of six to areas further south within the besieged area.

“They have to fold, unfortunately.” he added.

People flee rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo into the Sheikh Maqsoud area that is controlled by Kurdish fighters on Sunday.

More than 3,000 civilians have left the eastern part of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo in the last 24 hours, the Russian Center for Reconciliation said.

“We have mainly been surviving on rice”, he said.

“We are afraid. There is no food and I don’t know anyone here”.

A Syrian obstetrician spoke of her fears to CNN last week.

The government and Russian Federation declared a pause in the air strikes on mid-October to allow civilians and rebels to leave the east, but very few people took up the offer. Who Is Fighting in Aleppo? The Turks’ Euphrates Shield operation in northern Syria will not target Aleppo, he told TRT television in an interview.

A 13-month inquiry by the global chemical weapons watchdog and the United Nations concluded that Syrian government forces, including helicopter squadrons, were responsible for the use of chlorine barrel bombs against civilians.

The fighting resumed in mid-November as Syrian army forces pushed into rebel-held areas.