Fierce fighting, shelling shake Syria's Aleppo

Aleppo: Fierce fighting and shelling shook Syria's Aleppo on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent reported, as sources said a deal to evacuate civilians and fighters from rebel-held districts was on hold.

An AFP correspondent in a rebel-held area of east Aleppo saw several wounded civilians nearby as the area came under heavy tank fire.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed shelling and "very intense clashes on every front line."

There was preliminary information about casualties, the Britain-based monitor said.

"Regime forces have fired dozens of shells since this morning on areas held by the opposition factions, which have also fired at least eight shells so far into regime-controlled areas," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Aleppo had seen several hours of calm after an agreement to evacuate civilians and fighters from the last rebel-held areas was announced on Tuesday.

But rebels and a source close to the regime said the deal was on hold on Wednesday after objections from the Syrian government.

A source close to the government said Damascus objected to the number of people seeking to leave and wanted the names of evacuees.

"The government has suspended the evacuation deal because originally it was for the departure of 2,000 fighters and now there will be more than 10,000 people," he told AFP.

"The government also wants a list of the people who are leaving because they could include hostages or prisoners," he said.

Yasser al-Youssef, a political official from the Nureddin al-Zinki rebel group, accused the government and its ally Iran of "blocking civilians from leaving after adding new conditions" to the deal.