Syrian opposition fighters renewed their bid to break a regime siege on eastern Aleppo on Thursday (November 3rd), shelling regime-held parts of the city, hours before a brief Russian-declared ceasefire was due to begin, AFP reported.

Opposition fighters were engaged in fierce fighting with regime forces in several districts on the western outskirts, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The "most intense fighting" was on the edges of the Halab al-Jadida neighbourhood, it said.

"If they take Halab al-Jadida, they could advance towards the military complexes," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Regime forces were carrying out airstrikes in areas where clashes were under way, he said, but the opposition-held neighbourhoods in the east of the city were largely quiet.

The Observatory said 11 had been killed in the latest round of violence, including four children.

Russia said Wednesday it would implement a new, 10-hour "humanitarian pause" for Aleppo on Friday, prompting the UN to warn that "humanitarian operations cannot be contingent on political or military initiatives".