BEIRUT (Reuters) - Air strikes on Bab al-Nairab in Syria’s rebel-held east Aleppo killed at least 10 people on Tuesday, and left dozens more wounded or missing, a monitor and a rescue service said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said air strikes, including barrel bomb drops, hit several eastern Aleppo districts overnight and into Tuesday.

The Syrian military could not be reached for comment.

The civil defence, a rescue service that operates in rebel-held areas of Syria, said Syrian government planes struck Bab al-Nairab as people were trying to flee the neighbourhood on foot, killing 25.

The Observatory said its death toll of 10 people was expected to rise but that it was unclear if the casualties were displaced people.

Aleppo has for years been divided between the government-held west and rebel-held east, which the Syrian army and allied forces besieged in the summer.

As the Syrian army and its allies made a sweeping advance in recent days, thousands of residents of eastern Aleppo fled shifting frontlines, both within the shrinking rebel-held sector and across to government-held districts.

Up to 16,000 people have been uprooted by the recent attacks, the United Nations humanitarian chief and relief coordinator Stephen O’Brien said, citing initial reports.</s>Thick cloud cover and rain deterred air strikes on rebel-held districts of east Aleppo on Thursday, though artillery bombardment and heavy fighting continued on the ground, a monitor and civil defence workers said.

Rebel groups are trying to prevent further gains by government forces that have seized more than a third of territory held by the opposition in Aleppo city in recent days.

The Syrian army and pro-government militias clashed with rebels along the edges of the shrinking opposition-held enclave, particularly in the Sheikh Saeed district in the south and in the east of city near the airport, it said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said the weather impeded aerial bombardment of rebel-held areas on Thursday, but artillery shelling continued.

In the last few days, before the bad weather, Syrian government jets had struck several east Aleppo districts, the observatory, rebels and residents reported.

“Praise God, there are no warplanes,” Ibrahim Abu al-Laith, a civil defence official in opposition-held Aleppo, said on Thursday. The civil defence is a rescue service that operates in rebel-held areas of Syria.

A few people were burning their belongings or furniture to warm themselves, he added. “The situation of the displaced is very bad,” he said. “There are no shelters for them, no fuel, no firewood. Many people are sleeping in the streets.”

Thousands of people have fled deeper into the rebel-held sector in recent days, as the government and its allies press on with a ferocious offensive aimed at taking the whole city.

“Many of the families that were displaced within besieged Aleppo are living in houses that don’t even have doors,” said Bebars Mishal, a civil defence rescue worker in the area.

Aleppo has for years been divided between the government-held west and rebel-held eastern zone, which the army and allied forces besieged in the summer and where they have made a sweeping advance.

Artillery by government forces and air strikes killed more than 300 people in rebel-held east Aleppo in the past two weeks, the observatory said. Rebel shelling of government-held western districts had meanwhile killed 48 people, it said.

The biting cold and rain did not stop the fighting along multiple frontlines on Thursday, the observatory said.

In a separate development, rebels in Aleppo have agreed to form a new military alliance to better organise the defence of parts of the city they control from a ferocious assault by the government and its allies, officials in two of the insurgent groups said on Thursday.

The Syrian government assault backed by allied militia has driven the rebels from more than a third of the territory they held in eastern Aleppo, threatening to crush the rebellion in its most important urban stronghold.

Rivalry among rebel groups has been seen as one of their major flaws throughout the war.

The two officials, speaking from Turkey, said the new alliance would be called the “Aleppo Army” and led by the commander of the Jabha Shamiya rebel faction, one of the major groups fighting in northern Syria under the Free Syrian Army banner.

An official with a second rebel group confirmed that the Jabha Shamiya’s Abu Abdelrahman Nour had been selected as the leader. In an interview with Reuters last week, Mr Nour urged greater support from foreign states that back the opposition.

A Jabha Shamiya official said the new alliance would help centralise decision-making.

The Jabha Shamiya group, known in English as the Levant Front, has received support from Turkey and other states that want Syria‘s President Bashar al-Assad removed from power.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — At least 21 civilians were killed in a wave of artillery fire in east Aleppo on Wednesday morning that struck a neighborhood crowded with people displaced from other parts of the city.

It was the second time the Jub al-Quba neighborhood, in the rebel-held eastern side of the city, was struck in as many days. An airstrike blamed by activists on the government killed 25 civilians Tuesday.

Meanwhile, eight civilians, including two children, were killed in shelling on the government-held western side of the city, according to state media. The government blamed rebels for the attack.

Many of the victims in Jub al-Quba died in the streets, with their belongings packed in bags by their sides, photos showed. Jawad al-Rifai, who took the pictures for the Aleppo Media Center, said they were civilians — mostly women and children — fleeing shelling and air strikes on other parts of the city.

The neighborhood and others around it in Aleppo's centrally-located old city have absorbed thousands of residents displaced by the advance of government troops in the east.

Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a teacher living in the Zabadieh neighborhood in eastern Aleppo, said refugees were filling up apartment buildings long abandoned because of the war.

"They are every now and then knocking on my door asking for simple things, like spoons, cups, plates, some salt," as well as medicine, he told reporters using a messaging service.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria through a network of local contacts, said tens more were wounded in Jub al-Quba.

Observatory chief Rami Abdurrahman said he predicts death tolls will spiral in east Aleppo as the internal displacement creates more residential density.

The Syrian Civil Defense search-and-rescue group operating in eastern Aleppo, also known as the White Helmets, put the toll at 45 killed. It blamed the government for the strikes.

Rescue efforts by the group were hampered by the lack of functioning machinery, said Rifai.

"Most of their equipment is out of service because of the targeting against their quarters," he added.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in Aleppo as pro-government Syrian forces press on with their campaign to reclaim the divided city.

The Observatory said more than 50,000 out of an estimated quarter-million inhabitants have been displaced by attacks on rebel-held eastern Aleppo over the past 4 days. Many of them fled to safer ground in areas under government or Kurdish control. The International Committee of the Red Cross says around 20,000 people have fled.

The Lebanese Al-Manar TV channel, operated by Hezbollah, reported from the Aleppo countryside that pro-government forces were advancing in the southern portion of the city's rebel enclave. The government has seized much of the northern half of the enclave in a swift advance that began Saturday.

Syrian state media announced midday Wednesday that its forces had retaken the southern Sheikh Saeed neighborhood, while the Observatory said rebels still held onto a third of the area. The Observatory added that Iraqi militia fighters were playing a central role in the government's advance from the south.</s>Up to 20,000 people have fled eastern Aleppo over the past 72 hours as Syrian government forces continued to advance in the rebel-held part of the city, according to the Red Cross.

Terrified civilians have fled empty-handed into remaining rebel-held territory, or crossed into government-controlled western Aleppo or Kurdish-held districts.

The 20,000 figure is an estimate and could increase as "people are fleeing in different directions", International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson Krista Armstrong told the AFP news agency.

United Nations humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien had earlier put the number of displaced people from eastern Aleppo at 16,000.

The city, which was Syria's biggest before the start of a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, has been divided between the government-held west and rebel-held east, where UN officials say at least 250,000 people remain under siege.

The Syrian government offensive to recapture the rebel-held parts of Aleppo has sparked international alarm as it intensified this week.

A voluntary rescue group known as the White Helmets reported at least 51 civilians killed in east Aleppo and more than 150 injured during the government assault.

Syrian government forces dropped "more than 150 air strikes from war planes and helicopters and [fired] more than 1,200 artillery shells", the group wrote on its Facebook page.

The attacks hit the neighbourhoods of Bab al-Nairab, al-Mayser and al-Salheen, among others.

SANA, the official Syrian state media arm, reported that Syrian government forces and allies on Monday took control of several areas in the city's northeast, including al-Haidariya, al-Sakhour, al-Inzarat, al-Sheikh Khedr, Jabal Badro, and al-Halk.



France called for an immediate UN Security Council session on the fighting, which has seen the army capture a third of opposition-controlled east Aleppo in recent days.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday on the dire humanitarian crisis unfolding in Aleppo, diplomats said.

The 15 ambassadors of the UN Security Council will get a video-conference briefing on the situation in Aleppo by a UN official in charge of humanitarian operation and the UN mediator in Syria, Staffan de Mistura.

"France and its partners cannot remain silent in the face of what could be one of the biggest massacres of civilian population since World War II," said France's UN ambassador Francois Delattre on Tuesday.

He and his British counterpart Matthew Rycroft earlier in the day pushed for the emergency council meeting on providing humanitarian relief to the besieged Syrian city.

Eastern Aleppo has been under government siege for more than four months, with international aid stocks exhausted and food supplies running low.

Rycroft said the council would discuss plans for the UN to deliver much-needed food and medicine into Aleppo and evacuate the sick and wounded.

"Russia complained that the opposition had not agreed to this plan. Now they have, so I call on Russia to make sure the Syrian regime agrees," Rycroft said.

"The future of Aleppo is in the hands of the regime and Russia, and we urge the regime and Russia to stop the bombing and let the aid go through."

The Syrian conflict started as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule in March 2011. It has since morphed into a full-on civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands.

The UN refugee agency has registered more than 4.8 million Syrian refugees who have fled the fighting, while another 6.1 million people are internally displaced within the country's borders.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — Renewed airstrikes killed at least 20 civilians as they fled government advances in Syria's besieged eastern part of Aleppo Tuesday, opposition groups reported. The United Nations said up to 16,000 people have already been displaced in recent days of fighting.

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 deeply 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 were also battling opposition fighters on the western edge of government-controlled Aleppo, seeking to secure the areas and repel opposition fighters from them.

The Syrian Civil Defense, a team of first responders also known as the White Helmets, said airstrikes hit a group of civilians fleeing to Bab al-Nairab district from government advances in the north, killing 25.

The activist-operated Halab News Network posted footage of the aftermath of the airstrikes, saying at least 20 from three different families were killed. The footage showed body parts strewn along a road full of debris, and families grieving over the corpses of their relatives as rescue workers attended to them. At one point, a warplane roamed overhead.

The Observatory put the death toll at 10 but said it was likely to rise, as dozens were wounded and missing.

In swift and dramatic advances, Syrian government and allied troops pushed their way into northern parts of opposition-held eastern Aleppo in the last 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.

The U.N. Humanitarian Chief Stephen O'Brien said he was "extremely concerned" about the fate of civilians, saying new displacements are likely. He called the situation in Aleppo "deeply alarming and chilling."

"There are no functioning hospitals left, and official food stocks are practically finished in eastern Aleppo," O'Brien said in a statement. "It is likely that thousands more will have no choice but to flee should fighting continue to spread and intensify over the coming days."

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, amid reports of arrests from people living in government-held areas.

"Those (fleeing) have escaped death miraculously," he told The Associated Press from Aleppo, where airstrikes and shelling continued. "They called it a death trip."

Amnesty International said it has received reports of Syrian security forces detaining men in Aleppo areas recaptured by the government. The London-based human rights group warned of the potential for revenge attacks, arbitrary detention and torture against people formerly living under opposition control. The reports could not be independently confirmed.

The U.N.'s O'Brien said civilians in western government-held Aleppo have also come under indiscriminate shelling by opposition groups — violence that has displaced about 20,000 people in recent weeks.

"The parties to the conflict in Syria have shown time and again that they are willing to take any action to secure military advantage even if it means killing, maiming or starving civilians into submission in the process," O'Brien said.

The government has imposed a tight siege on the eastern districts of Aleppo since July, with no aid going in for the last four months while punishing aerial bombings have been hitting hospitals and infrastructure. A brief breach by the rebels lasted nearly two weeks amid fighting around the area. The U.N. estimates that 275,000 people are trapped in the rebel-held enclave, which the new government advance has cleaved into two areas.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that "half" of eastern Aleppo has been "liberated," estimating that 80,000 people living there were "freed."

On Tuesday, Baraa al-Shami, a spokesman for the opposition fighting group al-Jabha al-Shamia, said opposition fighters are clashing with government forces on the edge of the Sakhour neighborhood from which they were repelled Monday.

"The rebels are prepared and they have organized new defense lines because of the new situation on the ground. Military work is primarily defense but we are working on offensives," al-Shami said. He added that there was intense government bombing of nearby al-Shaar neighborhood, which houses a number of the now-defunct Aleppo hospitals.

France's foreign minister called for an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting to try to stop the fighting in Aleppo and bring in humanitarian aid.

Jean-Marc Ayrault said he will meet Wednesday in Paris with the head of Aleppo's district councils, Brita Haj Hassan.

"More than ever, it is urgent to put in place a stop to hostilities and allow unhindered access to humanitarian aid," the French foreign minister said.</s>ALEPPO: The UN’s aid chief warned Wednesday that Aleppo risked becoming a “giant graveyard” after more than 50,000 people were reported to have fled intense fighting between government and rebel forces.

As the Security Council held emergency talks on the fighting in New York, Syria’s opposition urged the UN to take immediate steps to protect civilians.

A government offensive to retake all of Aleppo has pounded the city in recent days, with shelling of an opposition-controlled area reported to have killed at least 26 civilians.

Artillery shells rained down on one southeastern rebel-held district.

The motionless body of a girl lay crumpled in the street, her arm severed and her head pierced by shrapnel. Rescue volunteers carried her body away on a motorcycle.

Speaking to the special Security Council session by video-link from London, Stephen O’Brien, the UN humanitarian chief, appealed for action to stop the fighting.

“For the sake of humanity we call on — we plead — with the parties and those with influence to do everything in their power to protect civilians and enable access to the besieged part of eastern Aleppo before it becomes one giant graveyard,” he said.

Civilians have poured out of the besieged rebel-held east, battered by air strikes and heavy artillery fire by the advancing forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

On a visit to Paris, a local council leader east Aleppo called Wednesday for safe passage for desperate civilians, warning the UN would be “signing the death warrant of 250,000 people” if it failed to act.

“Let the civilians leave, protect the civilians, put in place a safe corridor so they can leave,” Brita Hagi Hassan said after meeting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Government troops and allied fighters have seized around 40 percent of the rebel-held east of Aleppo since they began an operation to recapture all of the city just over a fortnight ago.

They now fully control the city’s northeast and pressed their offensive Wednesday on Aleppo’s southeastern edges, advancing in the Sheikh Saeed district, according to state media.

The loss of Aleppo would be the biggest blow for Syria’s opposition since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests, before spiralling into a civil war.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said Wednesday that more than 50,000 people have fled Aleppo’s rebel-held districts, including at least 20,000 to government-held territory and another 30,000 to Kurdish-controlled districts.

Many others have travelled south into the remaining territory held by rebels.

Among them was Fawwaz al-Ashaari, 56, who left Sakhur district for a reception centre in government-held Jibrin, about 10 kilometres (six miles) north of Aleppo.

“I have lost my eldest son, my job, my house… The rest of my children only want to live in safety. They have seen death several times. I want them to know life,” he said.

The UN has for months sought access to the east, but a plan it presented this month to deliver aid has yet to be approved by the government.

The Security Council session in New York was to later hear from the UN’s peace envoy, Staffan de Mistura.

Syria’s opposition National Coalition said it was working with France on a draft UN resolution seeking an immediate ceasefire in Aleppo, though regime ally Russia was likely to veto such a proposal.

Coalition head Anas al-Abdeh on Wednesday urged the UN to “take immediate, definitive steps to protect civilians in Aleppo and stop the barbaric offensive against them.”

“This escalation is a war crime and a crime against humanity, another item on the Assad regime’s long, bloody, barbaric list,” Abdeh said.

A source close to Syria’s rebel factions said opposition forces held talks as recently as Monday with Russian representatives in Ankara on a potential truce for Aleppo.

A member of Russia’s general staff, General Sergei Rudskoi, said Wednesday that Moscow had not carried out any air strikes on east Aleppo for more than a month.

“Since October 18, in other words for the past 44 days, Russian planes have not flown over Aleppo”, he said.

On Wednesday, at least 26 civilians including seven children were killed in government artillery fire on the Jubb al-Qubbeh district in east Aleppo, the Observatory said.

The White Helmets rescue group, which operates in rebel-held areas, published pictures of the attack’s aftermath, showing an apocalyptic scene with bodies, pieces of flesh, and suitcases strewn across the street.

A young man wept next to two bodies, their top halves obscured by blankets. The feet of one body were clad in pink socks, the other wore red boots done up with white laces.

The Observatory says more than 300 civilians, including 33 children, have been killed in east Aleppo since the latest government assault began on November 15.

Another 48 civilians have been killed in west Aleppo, according to the monitor.

State news agency SANA said eight civilians including two children had been killed in rebel fire on several districts in the city’s west on Wednesday. AFP</s>As the Security Council met for emergency talks on the fighting in New York, Syria's opposition urged the UN to take immediate steps to protect civilians.

A Syrian government offensive to retake all of the divided city has battered Aleppo in recent days, with regime shelling on an opposition-controlled area reported to have killed at least 26 civlians.

Artillery shells rained down on one southeastern rebel-held district. The motionless body of a girl lay crumpled in the street, her arm severed and her head pierced by shrapnel. Rescue volunteers carried her body away on a motorcycle.

"For the sake of humanity we call on — we plead — with the parties and those with influence to do everything in their power to protect civilians and enable access to the besieged part of eastern Aleppo before it becomes one giant graveyard," he said.

Government troops and allied fighters have seized a third of the rebel-held east of Aleppo since they began an operation to recapture all of the city just over a fortnight ago.

The Security Council session in New York was to later hear from the UN's peace envoy Staffan de Mistura.

Syria's opposition National Coalition said it was working with France on a draft UN resolution seeking an immediate ceasefire in Aleppo, though regime ally Russia was likely to veto such a proposal.

Coalition head Anas al-Abdeh on Wednesday urged the UN to "take immediate, definitive steps to protect civilians in Aleppo and stop the barbaric offensive against them."

"This escalation is a war crime and a crime against humanity, another item on the Assad regime's long, bloody, barbaric list," Abdeh said.

A source close to Syria's rebel factions said opposition forces held talks as recently as Monday with Russian representatives in Ankara on a potential truce for Aleppo.

On Wednesday, at least 26 civilians including seven children were killed in government artillery fire on the Jubb al-Qubbeh district in east Aleppo, the Observatory said.

The White Helmets rescue group published pictures of the attack's aftermath, showing an apocalyptic scene with bodies, pieces of flesh, and suitcases strewn across the street.

A young man wept next to two bodies, their top halves obscured by blankets. The feet of one body were clad in pink socks, the other wore red boots done up with white laces.

The Observatory says more than 300 civilians, including 33 children, have been killed in east Aleppo since the latest government assault began on November 15.

Another 48 civilians have been killed in west Aleppo, according to the monitor.

State news agency SANA said eight civilians including two children had been killed in rebel fire on several districts in the city's west on Wednesday.

The violence in the city has prompted international concern, though there has been little sign of a plan to intervene.

UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein on Wednesday said civilians in eastern Aleppo faced "a nightmare which clearly violates the most basic norms of human rights and any shred of human decency."

"Pounded by accelerating bombardment, deliberately deprived of food and medical care, many of them — including small children — report that they are simply waiting for death," he said.</s>"Tonight we have no house, it's bombed and I got in rubble. I saw deaths and I almost died," Bana Alabed tweeted.

Syrian regime forces launched a long-threatened ground assault in Aleppo on Saturday, wresting control of a number of northeastern neighborhoods from rebels -- effectively driving a wedge through the eastern part of the city.

Retaking eastern Aleppo would mark the biggest victory for the Syrian regime since the uprising began over five years ago.

Bana's mother Fatemah told CNN their home took a direct hit on Sunday evening, forcing them into the street to wait for the planes to go and shelling to cease.

Fatemah, 26, created the Twitter account for her daughter in late September to "share our life here to the world'' as the Syrian army launched a major offensive to recapture Aleppo. "Last message -- under heavy bombardments now, can't be alive anymore. When we die, keep talking for 200,000 still inside. BYE," Fatemah tweeted on Sunday night before posting a picture of her daughter Bana, who appeared to be covered in dust. Last message - under heavy bombardments now, can't be alive anymore. When we die, keep talking for 200,000 still inside. BYE.- Fatemah — Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) November 27, 2016 The tweet references the estimated 200,000 civilians still living under siege in eastern Aleppo. The activist-run SMART News Agency said Sunday that airstrikes hit the al-Shaar neighborhood, where Bana's family live, injuring at least five people. Footage shared by SMART News Agency purported to show people in al-Shaar being carried away from the scene in the aftermath. Fatemah told CNN via Twitter direct message that her children -- Mohamed, 5, Noor, 3, and Bana -- were not injured in the strikes and they sought shelter in a nearby house later on Sunday evening. Hundreds of civilians have fled Aleppo's rebel-held east since the assault this weekend. The Syrian army told state-run SANA news agency that its units had secured departure routes for 1,500 people from eastern Aleppo to regime-held areas on Sunday. Under heavy bombardments now. In between death and life now, please keep praying for us. Bana tweeted again on Monday, asking for people's prayers amid fresh bombardments. Intense artillery fire by regime forges continued to target al-Shaar neighborhood on Monday, activist Aleppo Media Center reported. "Under heavy bombardments now. In between death and life now, please keep praying for us," Bana said in a tweet.</s>"Tonight we have no house, it's bombed and I got in rubble. I saw deaths and I almost died," Bana Alabed tweeted. On Monday, her mother posted an update saying the family was on the run.

Syrian regime forces launched a long-threatened ground assault in Aleppo on Saturday, wresting control of a number of northeastern neighborhoods from rebels -- effectively driving a wedge through the eastern part of the city.

Retaking eastern Aleppo would mark the biggest victory for the Syrian regime since the uprising began over five years ago.

Bana's mother Fatemah told CNN their home took a direct hit on Sunday evening, forcing them into the street to wait for the planes to go and shelling to cease.

Fatemah, 26, created the Twitter account for her daughter in late September to "share our life here to the world'' as the Syrian army launched a major offensive to recapture Aleppo. "Last message -- under heavy bombardments now, can't be alive anymore. When we die, keep talking for 200,000 still inside. BYE," Fatemah tweeted on Sunday night before posting a picture of her daughter Bana, who appeared to be covered in dust. Last message - under heavy bombardments now, can't be alive anymore. When we die, keep talking for 200,000 still inside. BYE.- Fatemah — Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) November 27, 2016 The tweet references the estimated 200,000 civilians still living under siege in eastern Aleppo. The activist-run SMART News Agency said Sunday that airstrikes hit the al-Shaar neighborhood, where Bana's family live, injuring at least five people. Footage shared by SMART News Agency purported to show people in al-Shaar being carried away from the scene in the aftermath. Fatemah told CNN via Twitter direct message that her children -- Mohamed, 5, Noor, 3, and Bana -- were not injured in the strikes and they sought shelter in a nearby house later on Sunday evening. Hundreds of civilians have fled Aleppo's rebel-held east since the assault this weekend. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said the number of civilians fleeing the city was in the thousands. The Syrian army told state-run SANA news agency that its units had secured departure routes for 1,500 people from eastern Aleppo to regime-held areas on Sunday. Under heavy bombardments now. In between death and life now, please keep praying for us. On Monday, Bana tweeted asking for people's prayers amid fresh bombardments. Intense artillery fire by regime forces continued to target al-Shaar neighborhood on Monday, activists Aleppo Media Center reported. "Under heavy bombardments now. In between death and life now, please keep praying for us," Bana said in a tweet. A local Aleppo activist said on Twitter that he did not know anything regarding the whereabouts of Bana and her family, but that "their neighbourhood is being targeted heavily." A few hours later, Fatemah tweeted that the family was "on the run." "We are on the run as many people killed right now in heavy bombardments. We are fighting for our lives. Still with you," Fatemah added.
At least ten people are killed and others were injured during air strikes on Aleppo's Bab al-Nairab neighborhood.