Army advances in Aleppo ahead of UN ceasefire vote

Aleppo: Syrian government forces gained more ground in the battle for Aleppo on Monday as the UN Security Council prepared to vote on a resolution demanding a ceasefire in the battered city.

The army and allied forces seized the Qadi Askar neighbourhood overnight and three weeks into their offensive to retake rebel-held east Aleppo were in control of around two thirds of former rebel territory, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the latest advances had left the large Shaar neighbourhood effectively encircled by government forces.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the army was attacking both from inside east Aleppo and from government-held western districts.

"The regime is draining the rebels fighters of ammunition by opening many fronts at the same time," he said.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces have made steady gains since launching the assault to retake all of east Aleppo. Its loss would mark the biggest defeat for rebel forces in Syria's five-year civil war.

Terrified residents spent a sleepless night in rebel-held neighbourhoods, as dozens of rockets rained down, AFP's correspondent in east Aleppo said.

Many switched off all their lights, even turning off generators, because they were attracting bombardment.

Residents were going into basements or cowering in the entrances of buildings in the hope of remaining safe.

Tens of thousands of east Aleppo residents have fled to other parts of the city from the fighting, which has raised widespread international concern.

On Monday the Security Council will vote on a resolution demanding a temporary ceasefire in Aleppo and humanitarian access to residents trapped in the fighting, diplomats said.

Seven-day ceasefire urged

Egypt, New Zealand and Spain drew up the text calling for a truce of at least seven days following lengthy negotiations with Russia, a staunch Assad ally.

Despite concessions by the resolution's drafters, it remained unclear whether Moscow would use its veto in the council to block the measure.

The Observatory says at least 319 people have been killed in east Aleppo during the offensive, including 44 children.

Rebel fire on the government-held west of the city has killed 69 people, including 28 children, in the same period, the monitor says.

State television reported on Monday that two more people had been killed and five wounded in rebel fire on west Aleppo.

The assault has added to the misery in east Aleppo, which has been targeted by relentless government fire since it fell to rebels in 2012.

The city's east was surrounded by government forces in mid-July, and no aid has entered the area since.

International aid provisions have been exhausted and other food supplies are dwindling, meaning many residents are surviving on a single meal a day.

Hundreds of Syrians have been returning to east Aleppo in recent days, some years after they left, but many have been disappointed to find their homes in ruins.

Homes in ruins

Kafa Jawish, 36, had dreamed of seeing her home again after four years, but burst into tears when she found her building little more than rubble.

"We were so optimistic but now we've found it like this, uninhabitable," she said.

"We spent years working to make a home, buying things for it, bit by bit and now there's nothing in it and the house is destroyed. Oh God."

Violence has continued elsewhere in the country alongside the Aleppo fighting, with at least 72 people killed in air strikes and barrel bomb attacks across the northwestern province of Idlib on Sunday, the Observatory said.

Most of those killed died in air strikes on the towns of Maaret al-Numan and Kafr Nabal, the monitor said, adding that those strikes appeared to have been carried out by Russia.

The Observatory says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved. Moscow began a military intervention in support of Assad's government in September 2015 and says it is targeting "terrorists."

It has dismissed reports of civilian casualties in its strikes.

Russia is not participating in the current operation in Aleppo, but last month announced a "major operation" targeting Idlib and Homs provinces.

Idlib province is mostly controlled by a powerful rebel alliance known as the Army of Conquest, which groups Islamist factions with jihadists of Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate.

The Observatory reported fresh air strikes overnight and into Monday morning across the province, saying at least one person had been killed.