BEIRUT — Syrian government forces and their allies captured another major eastern Aleppo neighborhood and several smaller areas Monday, putting much of the northern part of the city's besieged rebel-held areas under government control for the first time in four years, state media reported.
Russia's Defense Ministry said the areas captured by Syrian government troops include 12 neighborhoods and over 3,000 buildings in the past few days. It added that Syrian government troops are now controlling 40 percent of the rebel-held parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
The ministry added in a statement that more than 100 rebels have laid down their arms and exited the Syrian city's eastern suburbs.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city and former commercial center, has been contested since the summer of 2012 and a rebel defeat in the city would be a turning point in the five-year conflict. If Syrian forces capture all of east Aleppo, President Bashar Assad's government will be in control of the country's four largest cities as well as the coastal region.
The government's push, backed by thousands of Shiite militia fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran, and under the cover of the Russian air force, has laid waste to Aleppo's eastern neighborhoods. Medical and food supplies have been running short in recent weeks as Syrian warplanes pounded the besieged enclave, rendering all remaining functioning hospitals out of service.
Simultaneous advances by Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces on Sunday set off a tide of displacement inside the divided city, with thousands of residents evacuating their premises to safety in government and Kurdish-controlled areas of the city since Saturday.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.