Syria: 98% of East Aleppo Retaken

Syrian troops have retaken control of 98 percent of eastern Aleppo, according to military officials. Government forces seized control of two large neighborhoods in the east and south of the city, including al-Fardous and Sheik Saeed, leaving rebels packed into a small enclave. Rami Abdurrahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Monday that fighting continued in the district and that rebels are enclosed an an area that represents only 10 percent of what they used to control. Still, tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in areas where fighting continues. If pro-government troops succeed in driving rebels from the city, President Bashar al-Assad will have achieved a significant milestone in the country’s civil war.