(VOVworld)-The Syrian army and allied fighters fully recaptured Masaken Hanano, a key rebel-held neighborhood in the northern city of Aleppo on Saturday.

Syrian militants walk past damaged houses as they approach the Baeedin district in eastern Aleppo, near Masaken Hanano (Source: The Guardian)

A military source said that the military forces retook the Masaken Hanano area following battles with the rebels' Jaish al-Fateh. Masaken Hanano is the largest rebel-held district in eastern Aleppo, and was also the first area stormed by rebels in mid-2012. Observers say capturing the Hanano area will expose the Sakhour neighborhood to the Syrian army, enabling it to isolate the northern part of the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo from the southern one. Experts said the Syrian forces were achieving rapid progress in eastern Aleppo, where over 250,000 civilians are trapped.