The Assad forces managed to bring Aleppo's rebel-held Old City under their control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday.

The regime forces are now looking closer than ever to fully control Aleppo, the militants' last urban stronghold in the country.

Syrian sources said many militants in eastern Aleppo have surrendered to the army forces.

News of Syrian army gains come at a time the United States and Russia are preparing to discuss facilitating the surrender and evacuation of rebels from Aleppo.

Aleppo, once Syria's commercial powerhouse, has been largely divided since 2012 between a rebel-held east and a government-controlled west, and has suffered some of the war's worst violence. The government has in recent weeks, with Russian air support, launched a huge offensive to retake the entire city. 

Government forces won control of seven districts on Tuesday, including the strategic Shaar neighborhood, and were in control of more than three quarters of former rebel-held territory in the divided northern city, state media said.

Source: MENA