UPDATE - Tens of thousands displaced by regime attacks on Aleppo

ADDS STATE DEPT. REACTION

By Mohamed Misto and Khaled Suleiman

ALEPPO, Syria (AA) - Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes in opposition-held parts of eastern Aleppo due to ongoing attacks by the Syrian regime and its allies, local sources said Thursday.

"The number of those who have recently fled from opposition-held parts of eastern Aleppo and combat areas has surpassed 50,000 within the last three days," Baybars Meshaal, a pro-opposition civil defense official based in the city, told Anadolu Agency.

Meshaal said persistent shelling of opposition-held parts of the city by the regime and allied militias had caused a severe panic among Aleppo’s civilian population.

Districts to which civilians have fled -- many on foot or by mule-cart -- include Aleppo’s Sukkari, Saif al-Dawla, Bustan al-Qasr and Saladin neighborhoods.

On Wednesday evening, regime artillery reportedly killed 46 people -- and injured dozens more -- as they fled targeted areas.

The U.S. said it would welcome any effort to "ease the suffering" of Syrians, especially in Aleppo.

"We obviously remain engaged with the Turks, Russian, the Saudis, the Qataris, our European allies and the opposition in Syria," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said during a press briefing.

He added that Secretary of State John Kerry would meet in Rome on Friday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura.

Within the last two weeks, some 700 civilians have reportedly been killed in eastern Aleppo amid persistent attacks by the regime and its allies.

The attacks come within the context of attempts by the Russia-backed Assad regime and its allies to wrest control of eastern parts of the city, four years after they were captured by armed opposition groups.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.