Heavy shelling was taking place Friday in the last rebel-held districts of eastern Aleppo, as the United Nations warned that tens of thousands of displaced people are in need of shelter as temperatures drop at night during the winter weather.
"All night, until this minute, the shelling has not stopped," said a man who gave his name as Abu Omar, living in Kalasa district. The majority of the rebel enclave in the northern Syrian city is now under government control as its forces continue to advance.
"Our biggest concern is how to shelter all these people," said Linda Tom of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Damascus, the main coordinating body for relief efforts.
At least 40,000 displaced people have moved to government-held west Aleppo in recent weeks, according to UN estimates, though others give figures twice that. They join more than 400,000 displaced people already in west Aleppo.
The UN said it was providing two hot meals a a day to the new arrivals, who are mostly women and children.
There is growing concern about young men, amid reports they were being detained by the government forces. Families expressed worry that they could be taken for conscription to the military. Other men are staying in the eastern enclave.
The rebels control less than 20 percent of what was the eastern Aleppo enclave. People who remain are struggling to find shelter from the cold, food and drinking water are scarce and medical aid is extremly limited, residents say.
