Smoke rises from a damaged building after a strike on the rebel-held besieged al-Shaar neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria November 26, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Another key district of eastern Aleppo has effectively fallen to advancing Syrian government forces, a rebel official said on Monday, as the army and allied militia pressed an assault against the opposition-held enclave.

“Karm al-Jabal and al-Shaar are considered fallen,” the official with the Jabha Shamiya group told Reuters, speaking from Turkey.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported heavy clashes on Monday morning in al-Shaar. The Syrian army and its allies advanced into al-Shaar, capturing some positions in the area, it said.