Here are the latest developments on the main battle fronts in Iraq and Syria, as of 2100 GMT on Thursday:

SYRIA

- Battle for Aleppo -

Elite Syrian troops moved into east Aleppo ahead of a push into the rebel sector's most populated areas, as regime ally Russia called for corridors to bring in aid and evacuate the wounded.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on a visit to Turkey, said Moscow had used every opportunity to help civilians, but accused rebels of threatening "to prevent passage of humanitarian convoys and fire on them".

Since Saturday more than 50,000 people have poured out of east Aleppo into territory controlled by government forces or local Kurdish authorities, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Thousands more have sought refuge in the remaining rebel-held neighbourhoods in southeastern Aleppo.

On Thursday, four children from a single family were killed in artillery fire by regime forces on the rebel-held Maadi neighbourhood of Aleppo, according to the Observatory.

The government's offensive has left 42 children dead, among a total of more than 300 civilians killed since the launch of the battle on November 15. 

Retaliatory rocket fire by the rebels on government-held areas in west Aleppo has killed 48 civilians, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

- Raqa -

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, is advancing in the desert as it tries to push closer to the Islamic State group's de facto Syrian capital of Raqa.

The SDF has been battling the jihadists to drive them from positions around 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the city.

IRAQ

- Battle for Mosul -

The toll for Iraqi forces emerged of the six-week-old battle for Mosul, with UN figures showing that around 2,000 had been killed in fighting last month alone.

he United Nations mission in Iraq released monthly casualty figures for November that showed 1,959 members of the Iraqi forces were killed just last month and 450 others wounded.

The UN toll includes members of the army, police who are engaged in combat, the Kurdish peshmerga, interior ministry forces and pro-government paramilitaries.

Since launching an offensive on October 17 to oust IS from its last Iraqi stronghold, pro-government forces say they have recaptured 40 percent of the eastern half of the city and are edging towards the Tigris river that divides it.

More than 70,000 people have fled the fighting, but upwards of a million are still there, including around 600,000 in the eastern neighbourhoods.

Source: AFP