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Syrian army continues advance in Aleppo amid wave of displacement

Xinhua, December 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

Government forces continued to advance Thursday on rebel-held areas in Aleppo city in northern Syria, as thousands of civilians fled battle zones of the city, a military source told Xinhua.

The Syrian army completely recaptured the Sakan Shababi, or youth housing units, in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, the source said on condition of anonymity.

This came a day after the army captured the neighborhood of Sheikh Saed, which was the gate for rebel-held areas in the southern part of eastern Aleppo.

Since the launch of a wide-scale offensive earlier this week, the Syrian army has taken control of over 15 neighborhoods, or almost half of the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo, al-Watan newspaper said Thursday.

The newspaper said Sheikh Saed constitutes the first defense line for rebels in the southern part of eastern Aleppo.

It added that capture of the neighborhood opened the way for the Syrian army to advance to other key areas, such as the Sukari neighborhood, one of the largest rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo.

The paper said 2,000 civilians left eastern Aleppo on Wednesday, bringing to 18,000 the overall number of civilians who have left eastern Aleppo during the week.

Al-Watan said the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, which changed its name to the Fateh al-Sham Front, prevented civilians from leaving the al-Madi neighborhood in eastern Aleppo, killing 30 civilians on Wednesday.

The Syrian army says it will press on with the operation until all rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo are recaptured.

Meanwhile, a leading Syrian opposition body demanded that the United Nations act immediately to protect residents of Aleppo.

The National Coalition urged the UN Security Council to "take immediate and definitive steps to protect civilians in Aleppo, and stop the barbaric offensive against them," an apparent reference to the offensive of the Syrian army against foreign-backed rebels.

"The regime of Assad and its allies have turned the liberated areas of Aleppo into a coffin," the group said in a letter to the UN, referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Endit