Major rebel withdrawal from more Aleppo districts

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syrian rebels on Monday, December 12 withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to AFP.

"The battle of Aleppo has reached its end. It is just a matter of a small period of time, no more, no less... it's a total collapse," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based monitor.

Among the neighbourhoods from which rebels withdrew was Bustan al-Qasr, once one of the most fortified districts under opposition control.

The withdrawal leaves rebels confined to just a handful of neighbourhoods in the southeast of Aleppo, the largest of them Sukkari and Mashhad.

Syria's army is on the verge of retaking all of east Aleppo -- in rebel hands since 2012 -- after almost four weeks of a sustained assault.

In the Mashhad neighbourhood, residents fleeing the army advance in other districts were crowded in the streets with nowhere to go, witnesses said.

Many were hungry and had not been able to bring anything with them. East Aleppo has been under siege since mid-July, with food supplies dwindling.

Displaced civilians were sitting on pavement, among them women and children lying on the street to sleep, they said.