BEIRUT -- Renewed airstrikes killed at least 10 civilians as they fled government advances Tuesday in Syria's besieged eastern part of Aleppo, opposition groups reported as troops continued to target the enclave controlled by rebel groups. The United Nations said up to 16,000 people have been displaced in recent days of fighting.
A senior military official in Damascus put the number of people fleeing the opposition-controlled area Tuesday alone at around 20,000, saying his government has put security measures in place to vet those leaving to ensure no fighters are among them and no violence takes place.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, denied any arbitrary detentions or revenge attacks took place during the influx of displaced, dismissing such reports as a distraction from his troops' swift success in penetrating rebel defenses.
The U.N. estimates that 275,000 people are trapped in the area that has been under tight siege and heavy bombardment since July. Many residents and rights groups have expressed fear of revenge or retaliation attacks during the government advances that have cleaved the territory held by opposition fighters since 2012.
France called for an urgent Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in Aleppo, where ferocious fighting continued as government forces closed in and sought to break down rebel defenses in the divided city, once Syria's thriving commercial center.
Government forces pushed their way into a new neighborhood on the edge of the rebel-held areas to the east, near the Aleppo airport road, according to the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Britain-based Observatory and government allied media reported pro-government troops also were battling opposition fighters on the western edge of government-controlled Aleppo, seeking to secure the areas and repel opposition fighters from them.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that "half" of eastern Aleppo has been "liberated."
The Syrian Civil Defense, a team of first responders also known as the White Helmets, said airstrikes hit civilians fleeing to Bab al-Nairab district from government advances in the north, killing 25.
The Observatory put the death toll at 10 but said it was likely to rise, as dozens were wounded and missing.
Syrian government and allied troops pressed their way into northern parts of opposition-held eastern Aleppo in the past couple of days, setting off a wave of panic and flight from the besieged enclave.
Many of the fleeing civilians headed to government and Kurdish-controlled areas, while others were driven deeper into the remaining rebel-held zones.
Residents of the besieged, eastern part of Aleppo reached by telephone reported thousands of civilians have moved to its southern district, cramming into alleyways and empty or deserted buildings.
Farida, a gynecologist who goes by her first name only for fear of reprisals by the government, said the situation has become "unbearable" in eastern Aleppo. "Many people are escaping to government areas," she said, rushing back to her patient in labor, in one of the few functioning clinics in the enclave.
Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a teacher who has remained in rebel-held Aleppo, said many of the displaced have squatted in his nearly empty apartment building. Alhamdo said 11 empty apartments in his building were already occupied by the newly displaced, many of them women.
"They are not safer from airstrikes, but are at least seeking refuge from the government gangs," said Alhamdo.
He said many of the fleeing civilians fear revenge attacks, after hearing reports of arrests from people living in government-held areas.
"Those [fleeing] have escaped death miraculously," he said from Aleppo, where airstrikes and shelling continued. "They called it a death trip."
Separately Tuesday, the U.S. military blamed human error for what it called a mistaken coalition air assault Sept. 17 that reportedly killed dozens of Syrian soldiers.
Targeters believed they were directing attacks on Islamic State fighters, and because this was an honest mistake, the strikes did not violate the international law of armed conflict, U.S. military investigators concluded.
The Syrian government said immediately after the attacks that the U.S.-led coalition was guilty of a "serious and blatant attack on Syria and its military," and that it showed the U.S. supports the Islamic State because the assault enabled Islamic State fighters to make important advances on the battlefield. The Russian government, which supports Assad, made a similar statement.
The U.S. denies collusion with the Islamic State.
The investigation report released by U.S. Central Command said the targeting errors stemmed from a "reasonable interpretation" of information available at the time.
"Ultimately, we made an unintentional, regrettable error primarily based on human factors in several areas in the targeting process," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Richard Coe, the chief investigator.
Coe said investigators confirmed 15 deaths but believe there were more. He said outside observers say more than 80 people died.
Information for this article was contributed by Robert Burns of The Associated Press.
A Section on 11/30/2016