George Ourfalian, AFP | Aleppo residents fleeing the violence in the city's eastern rebel-held parts seek a safe passage through the Bab al-Hadid district on December 7.

Fierce fighting and heavy bombardment saw more than 10,000 people flee rebel-held areas of the battleground Syrian city of Aleppo since midnight, a monitoring group said on Sunday.

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"They fled towards government-held areas in west Aleppo and districts newly controlled by regime forces in the north and centre of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A resident in the city's southeast told AFP that he saw large crowds of people fleeing during the night towards regime-held districts in west Aleppo.

According to the Observatory, fighting raged on several fronts between rebels and regime forces in southeast Aleppo, while regime raids and artillery fire continued to pound rebel-held areas.

An AFP correspondent in west Aleppo said that heavy bombardment of the east was heard through the night, and that it was so intense that it rattled windows in western districts.

(AFP)

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