Army advances in Syria's Aleppo, talks planned on rebel exit Syria's army gained ground in the battle for Aleppo on Monday, as regime ally Russia said it would hold talks with Washington on a total rebel withdrawal from the city. President Bashar al-Assad's forces have seized two-thirds of the former rebel bastion in eastern Aleppo since they began an operation to recapture all of Syria's battered second city in mid-November. IMAGES of shelling on rebel-held areas, seen from a regime-controlled area in Aleppo