DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Syrian government says it rejects any cease-fire for embattled Aleppo unless it includes the departure of all rebels from the eastern part of the city.

Syria's Foreign Ministry says in a statement carried on the state SANA news agency on Tuesday that the government won't allow the rebels a chance to "regroup and repeat their crimes" in the divided city.

The statement comes a day after Russia and China blocked a draft resolution at the U.N. Security Council demanding a seven-day truce in Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebel shelling of Aleppo's government-held districts killed 81 civilians in the past three weeks. The government's offensive to take eastern Aleppo killed 341 civilians over the same period and displaced tens of thousands over the past week.