The route was the only remaining road into the east of the city, and was effectively severed on Thursday when regime troops took a hilltop within firing range.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the advance by pro-government forces had brought them to within 1km of the road.
More than 280,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
In that same 72-hour period, dozens were killed and injured by rebel shelling in the government-held parts of Aleppo and air strikes on a holiday spot in Idlib province.
“We very much welcome the Syrian Army declaration of the 72-hour period of quiet in celebration of and in honour of Eid”, Kerry said Wednesday.
The Syrian Observatory estimates that between 250,000 and 300,000 people live in opposition-held parts of Aleppo.
Fighters of Manbij military council and fighters of the Syria Democratic Forces gather in Aleppo Governorate, Syria.
“I worry that the Castello Road will be cut for a long time, it will lead to shortages of bread and other necessities”, said Ahmed Kanjou, an unemployed father of four. Fighting there escalated after U.N.-brokered peace talks and a ceasefire unraveled earlier this year.
The militants are trying to reopen the road which has been tightened by the government forces for the last three days. The Syrian army and the Russian military, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have periodically this month announced these temporary truces but continued to step up their military campaigns in major battlefields.
The offensive began at dawn, sparking heavy clashes between government and rebel forces along the frontline that divides the government-held west and opposition-held east, the AFP reported.
The government has so far secured control over the surrounding Mallah farms, leaving Syrian forces less than a mile (1.3 kilometers) away from Castello road, Hezbollah’s media arm said, describing it as retaliation for violations of the truce by armed groups.
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Elsewhere in Syria, airstrikes on the village of Darkoush in the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib on Friday killed 23 people, including two children, according to the Observatory.
