Independent
Opposition fighters have lost 40pc of their territory in east Aleppo to regime troops backed by Russian air support. After a week of steady regime advances, east Aleppo is close to becoming what UN officials term "one giant graveyard" and rebels are on the verge of a strategic defeat.
Yet as the noose tightens around east Aleppo, Syria's most powerful backer may be reconsidering its next step. The city is unlikely to fall immediately, and the military force required to take and hold it may not be sustainable without incurring penalties on other fronts.
About 30,000 people are receiving aid after fleeing the city in the past few days. Syria and Russia yesterday declined a United Nations request for a pause in the fighting to evacuate 400 sick and wounded. Russia said that it wanted to discuss setting up four humanitarian corridors.