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| Syrian army poised for biggest victory in the civil war after retaking Aleppo's Old City from rebels | Syrian army poised for biggest victory in the civil war after retaking Aleppo's Old City from rebels |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Syrian army has managed to retake the entire of Aleppo's historic city centre from rebel groups, monitors report. | |
| Wednesday's advance leaves President Bashar al-Assad's troops poised to seize the whole city in what would mark one of the biggest victories for the regime in the almost six-year-old war. | |
| Aleppo, once Syria's economic hub, has been roughly divided into two - a government-controlled west, with the east held by US-backed opposition groups and rebels affiliated with al-Qaeda - since 2012. | |
| The city has seen some of the worst fighting of the bloody civil war. Rebel supply lines were cut off in August 2016, leaving the 250,000 residents in opposition neighbourhoods living under siege conditions. | |
| A brutal Russian-backed bombing campaign from September, followed by ground advances, has killed approximately 400 people and decimated medical infrastructure in rebel areas. | |
| Retaking Aleppo for good will effectively relegate the Syrian opposition to the northern and southernmost provinces of the country, wiping out the last urban rebel stronghold. | |
| More follows | More follows |