Civilians flee East Aleppo as Syrian regime advances

Syrian regime forces pushed deeper into rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday, forcing some civilians to flee to southern neighbourhoods to escape the onslaught of the assault in its bid of capturing the entire city.

Regime forces pounded the area with shells and barrel bombs as ground troops advanced in the key eastern district of Masaken Hanano, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Milad Shahabi, a member of the local council, said that residents were fleeing to southern parts of the opposition-controlled east.

Syrian state news reported that a group of civilians left East Aleppo to government-controlled areas, it did not specify the number of those fleeing the intense bombardment.

At least 143 civilians, including 19 children, have been killed in the city's east since the latest assault began on November 15.

Leaflets have been dropped on East Aleppo urging rebel fighters to put down their weapons and surrender the area to the regime.

A Syrian monitoring group alleged on Tuesday that rebels were preventing dozens of families from fleeing eastern Aleppo, however, such claims are difficult to verify and often distorted owing to the propaganda value of the matter.

Most opposition activists say that the fear of Syrian regime intelligence stops civilians from leaving East Aleppo, and flights from regime forces to rebel areas have taken place elsewhere in the country.

A resident of Aleppo's frontline Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood corroborated the report by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

Hajj Mohammed al-Jasim said his uncles' families were trying to cross from the Bustan al-Basha neighbourhood in the east to the predominantly Kurdish enclave of Sheikh Maqsoud.

"They've wanted to cross for a while because the circumstances have become very difficult," said Jasim, who confirmed his location near the al-Riz crossing via phone location services.

He said his relatives told him they were prepared to cross during the day but were advised by three rebel groups to wait until dark.

"Then in the evening, [the rebels] began to fire at the crossing" to prevent passage, Jasim said. He said about fifty families were waiting to cross.