Syria's army says anybody who remains in the city of Aleppo after offering those who wish to leave an opportunity to do so will face their "inevitable fate".
In a statement the army said it had cut off insurgents' supply lines into the northern city and had accurate information about the location of all their positions and arms stores. It urged all fighters there to lay down their arms and leave.
Earlier on Wednesday, the army said it was reducing its air strikes and shelling of rebel-held eastern Aleppo to alleviate the humanitarian situation and allow people to depart for safer areas if they wanted to do so.
The army, backed by Shi'ite militias from Iraq and Lebanon, as well as Russia's air force, began an offensive against eastern Aleppo on September 19 after the collapse of a week-long truce. The offensive began with one of the war's most intense bombardments.
The scale of destruction in Aleppo since the offensive began has prompted mounting international concern and caused the United States to break talks with Russia on attempting to renew a ceasefire.
The army and its allies have made some territorial gains in the northern part of Aleppo since the offensive began and have also opened fronts in the city centre and in the south.
The rebel-held eastern zone of the city has been effectively besieged by the army and its allies since mid-September, and about half of its approximately 275,000 inhabitants may want to leave as food and fuel runs short, the UN also said on Wednesday.
Since the offensive began, the army and its allies have made territorial gains in the northern part of Aleppo, capturing the Handarat refugee camp, and have also taken control of smaller areas in the south and in the city centre.
A Syrian military source also said the army had on Wednesday gained control of several factories in the industrial district of al-Oweija, south of Handarat camp.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the war, confirmed the government's gains in that area and said fierce battles were raging on other fronts in Aleppo, including around Bustan Pasha and Suleiman al-Halabi.
