Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
The United Nations and Congolese army have deployed heavy defences on the outskirts of Goma.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
The UN has also deployed many peacekeepers within the city itself, largely to reassure the population.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
Coordination meetings between the UN brigade commander (left) and the FARDC military chief for North Kivu (right) strengthened the cooperation.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
Around the town of Kibumba, just 25km from Goma, defensive positions by soldiers and tanks straddle the main road to the provincial capital.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
Meanwhile, M23 rebels maintain their stronghold in the town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
The rebels are relatively few in number, and claim to be lightly armed, but have proved a formidable opposition to the army.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
Their numbers are swelling with defections from the army, while Kinshasa has put out arrest warrants for the rebel commanders.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
Jean-Marie Runinga (waving), the political coordinator for M23, says they have no desire to take Goma, and denies Rwandan support.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
But residents of the city are now used to seeing heavily armed peacekeepers patrolling their streets in the event of an advance.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
The UN and FARDC have deployed attack helicopters against rebel positions, and have flown regular reconnaissance sorties over rebel-held territory.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
Despite the rebels holding ground less than 50km from the city, daily life continues for Goma citizens, although with an increasingly uneasy air.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
With heavy fighting erupting in the towns north of Goma, heavy deployments of FARDC troops have been called to action.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
The full might of the UN and Congolese army is being used against the rebels.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
Yet the rebels seem to be holding their consolidated positions and gaining ground towards Goma.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
When M23 took the border town of Bunagana, thousands of Congolese fled across the border to the Nyakabande Transit Centre in Kisoro, Uganda.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
And recent clashes around Kibumba have caused more than 8,000 people to flee south towards Goma, sheltering in schools in Kibati on the city's outskirts.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
Heavy fighting is taking place around Rugari and Rumangabo. Above, an FARDC tank retreats through Rugari following an M23 ambush.
Phil Moore/Al Jazeera
A nervous air surrounds the attacks, with the question of an attack on Goma looming ever closer.