Half of Aleppo retaken

Syria's army advanced overnight deeper into east Aleppo where it now controls more than half of the former rebel stronghold after a fierce assault that has sparked an international outcry.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled eastern neighbourhoods of the battered city since President Bashar al-Assad's regime began its latest offensive in mid-November.

Overnight, government troops and allied forces seized the district of Tariq al-Bab where heavy fighting had raged a day earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday.

The government has now recaptured around 60 percent of eastern parts of the city that the rebels overran in mid-2012, according to the Britain-based monitor.

The advance opens the road leading from the government-controlled west of the city to the international airport just outside Aleppo to the east, which is also held by the regime.

And it has prompted more civilians to flee, heading either further south into remaining rebel-held districts or crossing into government-held territory or areas under Kurdish control.

Assad's forces have made swift gains in east Aleppo, and its loss would be the biggest blow yet to Syria's opposition in the more than five-year-old war.

The government has trumpeted its advances, and state television yesterday showed buses full of residents going from west Aleppo back to their homes in neighbourhoods retaken by the army.

More than 300 civilians have been killed in the government's assault on east Aleppo since November 15, according to the Observatory.