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Civilians in Aleppo’s decimated rebel-held neighborhoods said their situation is growing increasingly desperate as signs mount that the opposition in the city faces potential collapse from the Syrian regime’s latest onslaught. The Wall Street Journal reports.

Rebels in Aleppo estimate that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and their allies now hold some 60% of the territory in the city the opposition controlled just over a week ago, though the situation remains fluid and difficult to assess.

“Rebels are thinking of leaving as well because they have become exhausted [by] the situation,” said Mohammad Al-Sheikh, a member of a rebel faction in Aleppo. “Their spirits are low. They are in despair over not being able to break the siege.”

As the news agency reports civilian leaders in opposition neighborhoods last week formed a negotiating committee in order to begin talks with the regime to reach a brokered agreement to end the current onslaught. But committee members said they have yet to contact the regime as the situation in Aleppo remained in flux.