Syria army makes new gains, pins down rebels in Aleppo

ALEPPO: Syria´s army seized key ground Tuesday in its battle for east Aleppo, capturing more districts and penning rebels in to less than 30 percent of territory they held in mid-November.

The advance came as Moscow and Washington traded barbs over stalled efforts to end fighting in the city, where forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have made significant advances since last week.

On the humanitarian front, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was a "disgrace" that the international community had been unable to alleviate the suffering in besieged and war-battered east Aleppo.

On Tuesday, government troops retook five districts including the strategic Shaar neighbourhood and were in control of more than 70 percent of former rebel territory in east Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The monitoring group described Shaar as "the most important neighbourhood in the heart of east Aleppo", and said rebels were being reduced to fighting a "war of attrition" with regime troops.

The rapid regime gains have left opposition fighters scrambling to defend the shrinking enclave they still control in Aleppo´s southeastern districts. Despite mounting criticism of the offensive begun on November 15, world powers have struggled to find a way to halt the fighting.

Key Assad ally Russia had announced talks with the United States in Geneva for Tuesday or Wednesday on organising a rebel withdrawal from Aleppo ahead of a ceasefire.
But on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Washington, which has backed rebel groups against Assad, of backtracking.