Aleppo battle in 'final phase'
- Kremlin blames lack of US cooperation for Palmyra blow
- Russia guilty of 'constant lies' over ceasefire: France
- Raids kill 34 civilians in IS-held villages
The Syrian army recaptured a major district of Aleppo yesterday, leaving rebel fighters cornered in a small pocket as the battle for the city entered its "final phase".
President Bashar al-Assad's forces held more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition stronghold of east Aleppo, a monitor and military official said, and appeared on the verge of retaking the entire city.
A Syrian military official in Aleppo told AFP the "operation in eastern neighbourhoods is entering its final phase", as fierce clashes were reported in the few districts of the city left under rebel control.
The fall of Aleppo would deal the rebels their worst defeat since the beginning of Syria's conflict in 2011, and leave the government in control of the country's five major cities.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported early yesterday that the army had captured the large Sheikh Saeed district in southeast Aleppo.
More than 10,000 civilians have fled eastern parts of Aleppo in the past 24 hours for districts of the city under the control of Syria's government, the monitor said.
Overnight and into yesterday morning, government warplanes and artillery pounded the remaining rebel-held territory in the east of the city.
The Kremlin yesterday deplored the lack of cooperation with the United States in Palmyra after Islamic State jihadists re-entered the ancient Syrian city at the weekend.
"We regret that we have yet to completely neutralise their offensive," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the fighters return to the fabled city after an eight-month absence.
France yesterday accused Russia of constantly lying over its role in Syria, saying it was claiming to battle IS group militants when it was only interested in backing Bashar al-Assad.
Another round of Russia-US talks on ending the bloody conflict made no progress at the weekend as the Syrian president's forces closed in on the last pockets of rebel resistance in Syria's second city, Aleppo.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the talks failed "because there is double-talk and a sort of permanent lie" on the part of Russia.
Meanwhile, at least 34 civilians, including 11 children, were killed yesterday in a series of air strikes on villages held by the Islamic State group in central Syria, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a barrage of air raids hit Oqayrabat and other nearby villages in the central province of Hama at dawn.
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