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DAMASCUS, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Tens of civilians left rebel-held areas in the country's northern city of Aleppo for government-controlled sections in the city on Friday, state news agency SANA reported.
The civilians, mostly women and children, evacuated rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo city through cleared pathways, and reached government-controlled western Aleppo city, where the army had prepared temporary shelters for them, SANA said.
On Wednesday, the Syrian army announced it was reducing the airstrikes on eastern Aleppo, to allow the civilians to leave safely.
Meanwhile, the wide-scale military offensive on eastern Aleppo by the ground troops continued, with the army making more progress, in the first progress the military forces have achieved against the rebels in eastern Aleppo in three years.
Earlier in the day, SANA said the Syrian army on Friday recaptured a strategic hilltop, the Sheikh Saeed hill, which has enabled the Syrian army to overlook the rebel-held districts of Amiriyeh and Sukariyeh in the Cement Factory in eastern Aleppo.
The fresh advance is the latest in a series of victories the Syrian army has recently achieved in Aleppo, as part of the declared offensive to dislodge the insurgents from the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo.
A day earlier, SANA said the military forces captured areas in the rebel-held Bustan al-Basha neighborhood, and al-Sakhour area.
Following a last month faltering truce, President Bashar al-Assad pledged to restore all Aleppo city.
On Thursday, UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura made a new proposition, which basically focuses on emptying eastern Aleppo from the radical elements of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, previously the al-Qaida linked al-Nusra Front, in an apparent move to reduce the Syrian military campaign on eastern Aleppo.
Ahead, and during the offensive on eastern Aleppo, the general command of the Syrian army urged the civilians to leave the rebel-held areas and reach the government-controlled ones in western Aleppo.
The army also offered amnesty for the rebels who would surrender themselves in Aleppo.
The offer was repeated several times over the past few weeks.
The situation in Aleppo has caused a rift between the U.S. and Russia, with both expressing dismay with each other's conduct regarding the situation in Aleppo.
Moscow has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to take place soon, with Mistura going to give his statement about the situation in Aleppo, and possibly his new proposition.
