Syrian government forces have captured a key part of eastern Aleppo, splitting rebel-held territory in two.<\/p>\n
State TV said government troops were dismantling mines and explosives and continuing their advance.<\/p>\n
A monitoring group says the rebels have now lost more than a third of the previously rebel-held areas of Aleppo.<\/p>\n
Thousands of civilians have fled the besieged districts after a weekend of heavy fighting. Hundreds of families have been displaced within the area.<\/p>\n
What are the latest developments?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Both state TV and the UK-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that the district of Sakhour had fallen to the Syrian army.<\/p>\n
This cuts through the middle of the previously rebel-held territory, dividing it into two.<\/p>\n
While it is very difficult to find out exactly what is happening in besieged eastern Aleppo, several other districts appear to have fallen to the government, leaving very little, if any, of the northern part of the rebel-held enclave still under the rebels’ control.<\/p>\n
Russia’s defence ministry says Syrian government troops have captured 10 neighbourhoods from rebels, and that more than 100 rebels have laid down their weapons and left the area, Associated Press reports.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/figure>\n
Aerial bombardment of rebel-held areas was continuing on Monday, according to the monitors.<\/p>\n
The Syrian army and its allies launched a major offensive to retake control of Aleppo in September.<\/p>\n
What has happened to the people who live there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\nThis woman and her young child were among those fleeing to the Sheikh Maqsoud area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
Thousands of residents of east Aleppo have fled to areas controlled by government forces and Kurdish groups since the fighting intensified on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said as many as 10,000 residents fled to government-controlled western areas and a Kurdish-run northern district.<\/p>\n
State media showed men, women and children being transported to government-held areas on green buses.<\/p>\n
Kurdish groups who control the Sheikh Maqsoud area of Aleppo provided images showing people fleeing the rebel-held neighbourhoods into a Kurdish-controlled district.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish PYD party told Reuters that 6,000-10,000 people had fled into the district.<\/p>\n
Scott Craig, the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Syria, told the BBC that there were 250,000 people in need of assistance in eastern Aleppo, 100,000 of them children. Food supplies were gone, he said.<\/p>\n
“The situation on the ground in eastern Aleppo is almost beyond the imagination of those of us who are not there,” Mr Craig said.<\/p>\n
Seven-year-old Bana Alabed, who has gathered thousands of Twitter followers with her tweets from Aleppo, said on Sunday that her home in the east of the city had been bombed.<\/p>\n\nOn Monday morning, her account tweeted:<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
“Under heavy bombardments now. In between death and life now, please keep praying for us.”<\/p>\n
Media caption<\/span>Meet Bana Alabed, the seven-year-old girl who has been tweeting from war-torn Aleppo<\/p>\n
Last week the United Nations’ humanitarian chief, Stephen O’Brien, said that hundreds of civilians had been killed or injured since the bombardment of eastern Aleppo resumed six days earlier.<\/p>\n
He also highlighted deaths and injuries resulting from mortar and rocket attacks from rebel-held areas into western Aleppo.<\/p>\n
Why has this happened now – and why does it matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n
This advance follows two weeks of relentless aerial bombardment, as the government and its allies renewed their assault on the rebel-held portion of Aleppo.<\/p>\n
It followed a three-week pause in the Russian and Syrian bombing of the area, which ended on 15 November.<\/p>\n
There are no fully-functioning hospitals left in the rebel-held territory and food ran out earlier in November.<\/p>\n
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura estimated last month that there were 8,000 rebel fighters in eastern Aleppo.<\/p>\n
Retaking the whole of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, is a key aim of the Syrian government. The east of Aleppo has been held by rebel factions opposed to President Bashar al-Assad for the past four years.<\/p>\n
The loss of eastern Aleppo would be a devastating blow for the rebels.<\/p>\n
Government forces have taken more and more territory from them since Russia intervened to back its ally, President Assad, in September 2015.<\/p>\n
Iranian-backed militias and Russian air strikes have helped Syrian government forces to break the deadlock.<\/p>\n
Russia says its air force is active in other parts of the country, but has not operated over Aleppo since the pause.<\/p>\n
\n
Why is Russia engaged in Aleppo?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Analysis – by Jonathan Marcus, BBC diplomatic correspondent<\/p>\n
The tide is clearly turning in Aleppo in favour of the Assad regime – raising serious questions about the ability of the disparate rebel groupings to maintain a significant area of control in northern Syria.<\/p>\n
The recapture of the city would be an important symbolic achievement for President Assad – underlining the fact that despite all the calls for his departure, Russian and Iranian support has been able not just to maintain him in power, but has enabled the regime to go onto the offensive.<\/p>\n
Indeed, external military support has been crucial. After years of gruelling attritional combat the regular Syrian army, despite new arms supplies from Moscow, is a shadow of its former self.<\/p>\n
The battle for Aleppo has depended upon air power and a variety of pro-Iranian militias, including Hezbollah fighters on the ground.<\/p>\n
This has cemented Iran’s key role in the conflict, which may have consequences in the future.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/figure>\n
Syrian government forces have captured a key part of eastern Aleppo, splitting rebel-held territory in two. State TV said government troops were dismantling mines and explosives and continuing their advance. A monitoring group says the rebels have now lost more than a third of the previously rebel-held areas of Aleppo. Thousands of civilians have fled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":272398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[3],"yoast_head":"\n
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