Syria's army has said that anybody who remains in the city of Aleppo after offering those who wish to leave an opportunity to do so would face their "inevitable fate".
A statement issued late on Wednesday said the army had cut off insurgents' supply lines into the northern city and that it had accurate information about the location of all their positions and arms stores. It urged all fighters there to lay down their arms and leave.
Syrian government forces seized around half of a key opposition-held neighborhood in Aleppo on Thursday in a new advance against rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. The British-based Observatory said fighting had been raging in the residential Bustan al-Basha quarter near the city center, one of the frontlines in Aleppo which has been divided for years between government and opposition areas of control. The Syrian military also said in a statement that its forces had advanced in Bustan al-Basha - though an official in an Aleppo-based rebel group denied there had been a government advance in the area. Government forces have encircled Aleppo's rebel-held eastern sector in recent weeks with the use of heavy aerial bombardment and are seeking to recapture the whole city.