Forces allied to the Syrian government have captured five more districts in rebel-held territory in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, said government forces were now in control of 70 percent of former rebel territory in east Aleppo.
The monitoring group said government forces had captured Shaar, a strategic neighborhood at the heart of rebel territory, and said rebels were being reduced to fighting a "war of attrition" with Syrian troops.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said Syrian government forces had taken control of five more districts of Aleppo and had now seized 35 districts from the rebels during the recent assault on the city.
Rebel-held districts of Aleppo, reduced to a few kilometers across, look set to fall to government forces.
The capture of Aleppo, the rebels' last urban stronghold, would represent the biggest military victory for the Syrian government since the civil war erupted in 2011.