Rebel forces in Aleppo have lost control of a key district that threatens to split the remaining opposition-held area in two, according to activists. “It is the biggest defeat for the opposition in Aleppo since 2012,” Rami Abdulrahman, the observatory’s director, said. A fighter on the government side in Aleppo said it had left a small corridor for rebels to leave the northern part for the south. Damascus claimed the rebel forces in the north of eastern Aleppo were in mass retreat to avoid being split and as many as 2,000 civilians had reached government-held territory in western Aleppo. He said rebel groups had accepted the terms for delivery of humanitarian aid, but no parallel agreement had come from Russia or Syrian officials.

Source: The Guardian November 28, 2016 08:30 UTC