The government's ground offensive was preceded by an intensive bombing campaign that knocked out medical facilities and left the civilian population in eastern Aleppo reeling from the onslaught. The proposal calls for the immediate evacuation of 500 seriously wounded Aleppo residents and for allowing civilians wishing to leave to head to northern rural Aleppo province, where there is almost no government presence. The official news agency SANA says the missiles were launched early on Wednesday from inside the "occupied territories" and fell within the perimeter of the Mezzeh military airport on the western edge of the capital. Syria's state media and an opposition monitoring group say that Syrian troops and their allies have captured more ground in Aleppo's Old City, gaining a new hold in the heart of the divided city. The Russian defense ministry says a Russian colonel who worked as a military adviser in the government-controlled part of the Syrian city of Aleppo has died in rebel shelling.