Syrian regime forces advanced Sunday in Aleppo after Russia unleashed dozens of air strikes, as the U.N.'s top aid official decried the "living hell" suffered by residents in the city's rebel-held east.
The devastating five-year war in Syria has ravaged second city Aleppo, once the country's economic hub but now torn apart by fighting between government troops and rebel forces.
The army of President Bashar Assad announced a major push on September 22 to capture Aleppo's opposition-held east and has gained ground in the city with the help of ally Moscow.
Dozens of air strikes pounded multiple battlefronts in the devastated city on Sunday, AFP's correspondent said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian raids "helped regime forces to advance in the north of the city," where they reached the outskirts of the opposition-held al-Heluk district.
If loyalist fighters seize al-Heluk, Bustan al-Basha and Sakhur -- all rebel-controlled neighborhoods in Aleppo's north -- they will confine opposition factions to a small section of the city's southeast.