Syrian troops shelled a number of districts in Aleppo at dawn on Tuesday and clashed with entrenched rebels, residents said.
Clashes erupted in Bustan al-Qasr in the southwest and in nearby Izaa as the districts were shelled, the residents said, while also reporting fighting further south in Sukari, where many insurgents were holed up.
Overnight, two civilians were killed by shelling in the rebel-held Sakhur neighbourhood in the northeast, while nearby Hanano was also bombed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian forces said they had secured the flashpoint Midan district on Monday after a week of fighting, although a correspondent said some parts were still unsafe for residents to return.
The correspondent reported seeing nine bodies near the fourth zone of Midan district on Monday, which the army had blocked off to residents because snipers were said to be in the area.
Pro-regime Syrian newspaper Al-Watan said the army had “cleansed” the Midan district, which “opens the door for cleansing” nearby neighbourhoods, including Bustan al-Basha, Suleiman al-Halabi and Sakhur.
But the battle for Aleppo is very fluid, with both sides claiming gains in what is a guerilla war, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.