Syrian regime forces advanced against rebels during intense street battles in the heart of Aleppo on Tuesday, after the United States abandoned talks with Russia aimed at reviving a ceasefire deal.
The UN rights chief appealed for action to halt the “ghastly avalanche of violence” unfolding in Syria's second city, which is reeling from some of the most brutal fighting in the five-year conflict.
The Syrian Army announced a major Russian-backed military push nearly two weeks ago to capture the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo, once the country's commercial hub.
Today, loyalist fighters seized several high-rise buildings from rebel groups in the city centre, pushing north towards other opposition districts.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor, said the regime forces were “gradually advancing” after street battles on the front line dividing the rebel-held east from the government-controlled west.
“They are focusing on the tall buildings, which were once Government administration buildings, because they can monitor entire streets and neighbourhoods from there,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
AFP's correspondent in Aleppo said fierce bombardment on the southern edges of the city could be heard throughout the night, although it was quieter by dawn.
Syrian State news agency SANA reported that rebel shelling on the Government-held west, including on the Aleppo University campus, left six people dead on Tuesday.
More than 300,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in March 2011, and several attempts at securing a diplomatic solution to the war have fallen flat.