Aleppo battle: Shell-fire kills civilians in rebel-held east
Syria war: Aleppo risks becoming giant graveyard - UN
(35 minutes later)
Many civilians have been killed in the Syrian city of Aleppo as government forces intensify their assault on besieged, rebel-held districts.
A top UN envoy has warned the Syrian city of Aleppo risks becoming "one giant graveyard" as the government advances on rebel-held areas.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said at least 26 people died when government shell-fire hit the Jubb al-Qubbeh area.
Stephen O'Brien pleaded with UN Security Council members to protect civilians "for the sake of humanity".
Eight others were reportedly killed by rockets that hit government-held areas.
At least 34 people died in the latest shelling of government and opposition-controlled areas, reports say.
Troops and militiamen have retaken more than a third of the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo since the weekend.
Troops and militiamen have retaken more than a third of the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo since the weekend.
Tens of thousands civilians have been displaced by the fighting, and the UN is extremely concerned about the fate of those still inside besieged areas.
Stephen O'Brien, the UN's humanitarian affairs chief, made the comments as the Security Council met for an emergency session to discuss the crisis in the city.
"For the sake of humanity we call on - we plead - with the parties and those with influence to do everything in their power to protect civilians and enable access to the besieged part of eastern Aleppo before it becomes one giant graveyard," he told the council.
An estimated 25,000 people have been displaced, he added, while for those inside opposition-controlled areas some are so hungry they are reduced to scavenging.
In an apparent reference to the rebels themselves, he said there were reliable reports that "non-state actors" were preventing civilians fleeing.
Aleppo was Syria's largest city and its commercial and industrial hub before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.
Aleppo was Syria's largest city and its commercial and industrial hub before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.
It has been divided in roughly two for the past four years, with the government controlling the west and rebels the east.
For much of the country's civil war the city has been divided into government- and rebel-held areas.
But in the past 11 months, Syrian troops have broken the deadlock with the help of Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militias and Russian air strikes.
But this year Syria, with the help of Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militias and Russian air strikes, has broken the deadlock, launching an all-out assault in September.
In early September they reinstated a siege of the east, trapping the estimated 275,000 people living there, and launched an all-out assault later that month.
On Wednesday, at least 26 people died when government shell-fire hit the rebel-held Jubb al-Qubbeh area, a UK-based monitoring group, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reports.
On Wednesday, two days after the entire northern portion of the rebel enclave was recaptured, the government ground offensive and aerial bombardment continued.
The Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are also known as the White Helmets, put the death toll at 45.
The Syrian Observatory reported that women and children were among the 26 people killed by shell-fire in rebel-held Jubb al-Qubbeh.
Eight others were killed by rockets that hit government-held areas, according to Syrian state media.
But the Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are also known as the White Helmets, put the death toll at 45 and said a group of displaced civilians was hit.
"The displaced people were coming at 06:30. There was artillery shelling while they were walking in the streets. Really, it was so, so horrible," Aref al-Aref, a nurse and photographer, told the Reuters news agency.
Syrian state media also reported that eight people, two of them children, had been killed in government-controlled districts by rebel rocket-fire.
Syrian and international aid agencies operating in those areas meanwhile tried to mobilise resources to help civilians crossing the frontlines in search of safety.
Syrian and international aid agencies operating in those areas meanwhile tried to mobilise resources to help civilians crossing the frontlines in search of safety.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said about 20,000 had fled in the past four days, while the Syrian Observatory put the figure at more than 50,000.
The Russian military said it was ready to escort aid convoys into recently recaptured eastern districts, where it estimated more than 90,000 people were living, but that the UN had not yet indicated it was willing to accept.
The situation for civilians trapped in rebel-held areas continues to worsen, with food stocks practically finished and no functioning hospitals left.
A spokeswoman for the UN's World Food Programme, Bettina Luescher, said civilians were enduring a "slow motion descent into hell".
The Russian military meanwhile said it was ready to escort aid convoys into recently-recaptured eastern districts, where it estimated more than 90,000 people were living, but that the UN had not yet indicated it was willing to accept.
The UN Security Council was due to discuss Aleppo on Wednesday.
France, which backs the rebels, called for the session. Its permanent representative, Francois Delattre, said it could not "remain silent in the face of what could be one of the biggest massacres of civilian population since World War Two".
But the BBC's Lyse Doucet in Damascus says the Syrian government and its allies are unlikely to heed calls to halt an offensive it describes as a campaign against terrorism.
They are hoping to retake Aleppo before the inauguration in January of US President-elect Donald Trump, who they hope will see their campaign in the same way, our correspondent adds.
