A rebel group leader is disputing a Syrian military official’s account to Reuters that the government has retaken control of the Sheikh Saeed district in southeast Aleppo, saying that in fact the army and its allies were completely repelled. Independent UK-based monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says it has information that rebels have held onto a third of the district. The military has rapidly overtaken districts in the city’s eastern rebel stronghold in the past several days, and if the city is lost it will be a massive defeat for the rebel movement, with the New York Times noting that the government would then be in control of Syria's five largest cities.