Report: 31,500 have left Aleppo

BEIRUT — The U.N. said Friday an estimated 31,500 residents have been displaced by Syrian government advances into the besieged eastern Aleppo enclave last weekend.

The advance of government and allied troops on the southern and eastern fronts was one of the most dramatic shifts in the conflict now in its sixth year, as troops marched into areas controlled by the opposition since 2012. Losing eastern Aleppo would cost the opposition its most significant urban presence in Syria.

The U.N. and rights groups have urged for a pause in airstrikes and shelling to allow humanitarian access to the enclave’s estimated 275,000 people.

The Turkish and German foreign ministers were among the world leaders who called for a cease-fire in Aleppo during their visits to Beirut on Friday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said a cessation of hostilities should be announced “as soon as possible, immediately.” Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also called for “temporary truces” in Syria to allow for a humanitarian corridor.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that the U.S. and Russia are studying new ways to break a monthslong diplomatic deadlock over how to stop the fighting.

“We have exchanged a set of ideas, which there will be a meeting on early next week in Geneva, and we have to wait and see whether those ideas have any legs to them,” Kerry said after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Rome, adding, “Nobody is waiting for the next administration. We both feel there is urgency.”

Kerry said he will gauge progress with Lavrov when they meet again on the sidelines of a European security conference in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, rebel rockets striking government-controlled areas of Aleppo killed four Friday, according to state media.

Over the weekend, allied government troops advanced from the northern side, capturing nearly half of the 17-square mile enclave.

Most of those displaced fled to government and Kurdish-held areas in western Aleppo, separated only by roads and deserted buildings. Many were also displaced inside rebel-held parts of the city, cramming into crowded and damaged areas in south and central eastern Aleppo.

Syrian state media reported from the government-controlled areas. State broadcaster al-Ikhabirya TV showed hundreds of displaced people sitting on rain-soaked streets and interviewed the newly displaced residents lodged in empty buildings pockmarked with bullets.

The Syrian government has been keen to show it is restoring normalcy to the shellshocked community following the swift restoration of government control to areas held by the opposition for four years.

An Ikhbariya broadcaster said work is underway to soon reopen a road linking the eastern and western parts of the city, unused for years. He also interviewed newly resettled residents, who spoke of rebel abuses.

One displaced woman interviewed in the government-held Jibreen district said her son was shot dead as he fled rebel areas.

The woman, who didn’t give her name, said she would carry a gun to avenge her son’s killing.

She praised the Syrian army, saying her family had no food or drink in rebel-held areas and was treated badly.

Others interviewed in the newly captured Hanano district complained of being mistreated on suspicion of cooperating with the Syrian army, including one who said he was detained. One resident complained of a lack of heating facilities in their new settlement.

Opposition officials and activists had also accused the government of shelling displaced Syrians who were fleeing the government advances. Information for this article was contributed by Jamey Keaten, Vladimir Isachenkov and Bradley Klapper of The Associated Press.