Syrian government forces have captured 60 percent of the area previously held by rebels in eastern Aleppo after gaining new ground on the city's eastern edge, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday. The Syrian army backed by allied militia has captured large areas of rebel-held eastern Aleppo in the last week in a ferocious campaign that threatens to deal a major defeat to the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad. A Turkey-based official with one of the rebel groups in Aleppo said government forces had advanced in the area but rebels were repelling them. The Observatory said at least three people were killed in an air strike on the al-Shaer neighborhood of eastern Aleppo. The civil defense rescue service in eastern Aleppo said a gathering of displaced people had been struck and put the death toll at more than six.

Source: Egypt Independent December 03, 2016 14:33 UTC