Twenty-one persons were killed and scores others wounded during artillery shelling by the Syrian forces of eastern Aleppo, said the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Wednesday.

Fierce clashes are reported between the Assad forces and the armed opposition in the precincts of the Great Prophet Mosque in western Aleppo, the SOHR said.

More than 20,000 people were forced to flee their homes amid intense fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo in the past 72 hours as the Assad forces are battling rebels to drive them out for good, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Before the civil war began more than six years ago, Aleppo was Syria's largest city and it has now become the scene of some of the most bloody fighting.

The city has been divided between the government-held west and the rebel-held east.

Source: MENA)