France calls for `immediate` UN Security Council meeting on Aleppo

France on Tuesday called for an "immediate" UN Security Council meeting on Aleppo to tackle the "humanitarian disaster" in the besieged Syrian city.

"More than ever, there is an urgent need for a cessation of hostilities and unhindered access to humanitarian assistance", Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement on Aleppo, where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in the fighting between government troops and rebels.

The call came as the Syrian army advanced deep inside east Aleppo, taking several neighbourhoods from the opposition in an onslaught to recapture the entire city.

The regime gains have prompted an exodus of thousands of desperate civilians, some fleeing to districts held by the government or Kurdish forces, others heading south into areas still under opposition control.