Roundup: Syrian army calls on civilians to return to liberated neighborhoods in Aleppo

The Syrian army on Saturday urged displaced civilians to return to areas that have recently been retaken by the army in the northern city of Aleppo, amid ongoing progress the army is achieving against the rebels in the city, according to state news agency SANA.

The government has started the rehabilitation process in areas the army captured in the rebel-held part east of Aleppo, according to a statement carried by SANA.

Recently, the Syrian army forces and allied fighters succeeded to capture the northern part of eastern Aleppo, as part of a major offensive the army and allied fighters launched to retake all rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday that the army has become in control of 60 percent of rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo, adding that at least 300 people have been killed since the army unleashed the offensive on eastern Aleppo in mid-November.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said recently that at least 30,000 civilians fled eastern Aleppo toward government-controlled area in western Aleppo over the past few days.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian army captured the key neighborhood of Tariq al-Bab, which enabled the military forces to secure the road toward the international airport of Aleppo, which has been out of service recently and turned into a military base.

The army also captured the Karm al-Tarab neighborhood in the southern part of eastern Aleppo, killing many rebels.

In response to the military progress, the rebels continued to fire mortar shells and improvised rockets on western Aleppo, killing five people and wounding 29 others on Saturday, according to SANA.

Meanwhile, Syria's Defense Minister Fahed Fraij visited Aleppo on Saturday and checked a number of military positions in Aleppo and its countryside.

This comes as Russian experts have reportedly arrived to the Hmaimim airbase in the Syrian city of Latakia to take part in removing mines from the recaptured areas in eastern Aleppo.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the experts will soon embark on their mission.

With the raging war in Aleppo, Staffan De Mistura, the UN special envoy to Syria, said Saturday he hopes "some type of formula" could be found to avoid a "terrible battle" in Aleppo.

"I was feeling it would be a terrible battle ending up by Christmas-New Year. I hope the battle will not take place, that there will be some type of formula," he said at a press conference in Rome.

The Syrian army says it will press on with the operation until all rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo are recaptured. The rebels captured eastern Aleppo in 2012, and the government forces recently imposed a siege on that area before unleashing a broad offensive for its recapture.

Humanitarian organizations sounded the alarm about the situation of 250,000 people living in eastern Aleppo, with the government promising to fix the situation of those relocated in government-controlled areas. Endit