The Syrian army have captured large swathes of the largest rebel-held district in the northern city of Aleppo over the past 24 hours, Xinhua reported citing a monitor group.
Battles, accompanied by intense shelling, have raged since midnight Thursday between the government forces and an array of rebel groups in Masaken Hanano, the largest rebel-held district in eastern Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The UK-based watchdog said the Syrian forces captured over 60 percent of the neighborhood, which was also the first area stormed by rebels in eastern Aleppo in mid-2012. Observers say capturing the Hanano area will expose the Sakhour neighborhood to the Syrian army, enabling it to isolate the northern part of the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo from the southern one.
