Syrian forces stormed the last rebel stronghold in the capital Damascus in tanks and armored vehicles on Friday and blasted artillery at rebels in Aleppo, where the United Nations said the army was preparing a massive assault, Reuters reported.
The violence came within hours of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan quitting as international peace envoy for Syria, underlining the impotence of mediation efforts in the 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
A senior U.N. official said a long-expected army onslaught to take Aleppo, Syria's largest city and economic hub, was imminent following a buildup of army reinforcements. The fighting in Aleppo has focused on the Salaheddine district, seen as a gateway to the city for the Syrian army.
Rebels poured into Aleppo in July after being largely driven from the capital, Damascus, where they had launched an offensive that coincided with a bomb blast that killed four top security officials. The fighting in Syria's two main cities has intensified the conflict over the past three weeks.
Rebels told Reuters journalists inside Aleppo on Friday that they had captured a large police station after days of clashes. Rebel commander Abu Zaher said fighters had taken several police officers prisoner and seized weapons and ammunition.
Other rebels said heavy fighting was taking place in Saleheddine, the main battleground district, where they estimated 20 civilians had been killed. They say 50 of their fighters have been killed there in the last several days.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "acts of brutality" reported in Aleppo could be crimes against humanity. Both sides have accused each other of carrying out summary executions of prisoners in the city.
U.N. member states voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Syrian government at a special session of the 193-nation General Assembly that Western diplomats said highlighted the isolation of Assad supporters Russia and China.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin blasted the Saudi-drafted resolution, which condemned Damascus and called for a political transition, as "harmful" and said it "hides blatant support for the armed opposition." Russia and China were among the 12 nations that voted against the text, which received 133 yes votes and 31 abstentions.
In the capital, Syrian troops entered Damascus's southern district of Tadamon with dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in a push to win back the last rebel stronghold there, a witness and activists said.
Activists said most of the district was under the control of government forces by early Friday evening. The army had been trying to enter Tadamon for more than a week but was pushed back by fierce resistance from the rebels.
An activist said the troops had executed several people after entering the district. The account could not be confirmed.
"Thousands of soldiers have entered the neighborhood, they are conducting house-to-house raids," a resident, who did not want to be identified for security reasons, said by telephone.
The fighting spread to Aleppo from Damascus after the bomb attack on Assad's security headquarters in the capital on July 18, which killed four of the president's senior aides and encouraged rebels to step up hostilities.
The Syrian army has reinforced its positions in and around Aleppo over the past two weeks, while conducting daily artillery and aerial bombardments of rebel forces in the city.
"The focus two weeks ago was on Damascus. The focus is now on Aleppo, where there has been a considerable buildup of military means, and where we have reason to believe that the main battle is about to start," Herve Ladsous, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said in New York.