The Syrian army and its allies drove rebels away from a strategically important area of eastern Aleppo on Monday, the army and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, in an accelerating attack that threatens to crush the opposition in Aleppo. The Observatory said rebels had lost control of more than a third of eastern Aleppo in recent days. Backed by allied militiamen, the army has been advancing into eastern Aleppo from the northeast since last week, making steady gains over the weekend. Capturing rebel-held eastern Aleppo would be the biggest victory for President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011. Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said government forces were now in effective control of a swathe of eastern Aleppo, having seized a third of eastern Aleppo in recent days.

Source: Egypt Independent November 28, 2016 10:37 UTC