Damascus: The Syrian forces have gained control of the northern section of the rebel-held areas in Aleppo city, a monitor group reported on Monday. Neighbourhoods such as Enzarat, Babdien, Halak and Sakhour as well as Masaken Hanano and Jabal Bado, in addition to large parts of Haidariyeh, have come under government control, Xinhua news agency cited Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground inside Syria, as saying.
Thousands of civilians have relocated to government-controlled areas in Aleppo over the past three days, amid a wide-scale military showdown in eastern Aleppo. On the government side, Syrian national TV has aired several interviews with civilians who have reached government-controlled areas in western Aleppo, with people blaming rebels for the dire humanitarian situation there.
The interviewees accused rebels of preventing them from leaving Aleppo. They also spoke of hunger they have been suffering from over the past four months, the same period when government forces laid siege to eastern Aleppo to force the hands of rebels and flush them out of the city. Government forces have intensified shelling on rebel positions in eastern Aleppo over the past 10 days to break their defence lines and prepare for a ground incursion.
The firepower has led to the destruction of rebel defences, mainly the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, the Turkey-backed Ahrar al-Sham, and the Nour Addien Alzinki Movement. The capture of Masaken Hanano, the largest rebel-held neighbourhood in eastern Aleppo, and the Sakhour neighbourhood, has enabled the Syrian army to isolate neighbourhoods in northeastern Aleppo from the central and southern ones.
Military sources said the rebels in eastern Aleppo are in a state of confusion as a result of government military advances. The Syrian army said it will press on with the operation until all rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo are recaptured.
