Syrian forces retake Aleppo

Syrian regime forces have entered eastern Aleppo and retaken parts of its largest district, launching a long-threatened ground assault to wrest control of the area from rebels.

The troops' gains in the key neighborhood of Masaken Hanano were backed by regime airstrikes and marked the first time that government forces have taken a significant part of eastern Aleppo since rebels seized the area more than four years ago.

Forces also entered the Jabal Badru neighborhood Sunday, effectively splitting eastern Aleppo into two.

Government forces and armed groups loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began a bloody push toward eastern Aleppo on November 15 as warplanes decimated much of the zone with airstrikes following a three-week lull.

But on Saturday, they forces broke through rebel defense lines and entered the zone by ground from the northeast, according to civilians and the state-controlled Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). Other troops are still pushing in from the south.

SANA reported that forces were now in "full control" of the area, but the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an activist group on the ground said only parts were in the hands of the regime and paramilitary gunmen.

CNN correspondents in the region say it would likely be days before the whole neighborhood is recaptured, as forces will have to clear buildings of potential booby traps and mines.

Aleppo is largely divided between government-controlled areas in the west and rebel positions in the east. Assad has vowed to retake the whole city, once Syria's commercial heart and now one of the last urban strongholds still in rebel hands.

Lifted from cnn.com