Escalating violence in Aleppo has trapped more than 100,000 residents. The Syrian government and rebels are trading blame over the rising civilian casualties in the besieged city. CCTV's Alaa Ebrahim has more from Damascus.

As fierce fighting shows no sign of slowing down in Aleppo, thousands of Syrian civilians are trying to flee the rebel held districts of the city.

Rebel sources accused the government of carrying out an attack on residents trying to escape killing more than 40 of them.

A Syrian military source denied those reports in an interview with CCTV, accusing the rebels of killing civilians and using them as human shields.

The same source also denied authorities are detaining some of the young men who left eastern Aleppo because they lacked credentials and were being held while their identities are verified.

Government-led forces have reportedly taken control of nearly half of the rebel areas following a major assault. But rebel commanders say they pulled back to better defend the remaining areas under their control, vowing to continue fighting and surprise the attacking Syrian army units with news tactics and weapons.

The coming days are expected to see more violence in Aleppo further complicating the situation for more than a hundred thousand still trapped in rebel areas of the city.

All of this at a time when mystery still surrounds a series of explosions heard before dawn Wednesday around Damascus. The state news agency Sana said Israeli jets fired two missiles from Lebanese airspace hitting an area west of Damascus along Damascus-Beirut highway. A source told the news agency it was not clear if anything was hit. Many believe the air strike was aimed at an arms shipment intended for the Lebanese Hezbollah party.