Syrian Government Retakes Half of Rebel-Held Areas in East Aleppo

O’Brien said that aid convoys were ready to roll in from Turkey and western Aleppo but that they needed an end to the siege and protection for civilians.

Insurgents also struck back in the government-held western parts of the city with dozens of mortar shells.

It has left Aleppo’s streets strewn with the bodies of men, women and children, many lying next to the suitcases they had packed to escape.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday said Tehran and Moscow would continue to cooperate in the Syrian war “until the ultimate goal of eradicating terrorism and restoring peace and full security to the region is achieved”.

Diplomats said the meeting was likely to be held next week, when the Canadian-drafted resolution could be put to a vote.

Cappelaere said “too many have witnessed the death of their loved ones and the destruction of the places they once thought are safe: their homes, their schools, their playgrounds”.

Syria’s main ally Russian Federation has previously unilaterally declared the creation of evacuation passages from east Aleppo, but the United Nations was not involved and the routes, which came under rebel fire, went largely unused.

“The people who’re fleeing take a lot of risks”.

“There are no more vulnerable people on earth probably than the civilian population in Aleppo”, he told the media.

Amnesty International called on the government to ensure that residents of areas it had captured were protected from arbitrary detention and revenge attacks.

“On Monday, rebels inside Aleppo were able to regain control over large parts of the neighborhoods regime forces previously advanced on, especially a-Maissar, a-Tahhan and Qatarji”, Abdelrazaq said.

The government’s recent advance is the worst setback for Aleppo’s rebels since they seized the eastern half of the city in 2012.

More than 300 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo since the government, backed by Russian Federation, resumed its offensive on 15 November.

Since last weekend a renewed Russian-backed Syrian assault on the opposition-held east has displaced an estimated 50,000 of the 250,000 people believed to live there. More than 300 people are missing, said the group on Wednesday.

Rebel fire on the government-held west of the city has killed 73 people, including 29 children, in the same period, the monitor says.

Jets and artillery pounded besieged eastern districts as Syrian troops and allied fighters from Iraq, Iran and Lebanon pushed further into the city, securing parts of Tariq al-Bab and the airport road to the east of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Russian Federation says it’s ready to hold quick talks with the USA on the exit of rebels from the besieged city of Aleppo.

An official with a second rebel group confirmed that the Jabha Shamiya’s Abu Abdelrahman Nour had been selected as the leader.

The French capital Paris is to host a high-level meeting between countries supporting the moderate Syrian opposition in early December, as France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault confirmed on November 24. Turkey supports the Syrian opposition.