A monitor of Syria's war said on Saturday that rebels controlled most of Aleppo city, reporting Russian air strikes on parts of Syria's second city for the first time since 2016, France 24 reports.
Syria's army admitted that rebels had entered "large parts" of Aleppo and said "dozens of men from our armed forces were killed and others wounded".
The fighters have pressed a lightning offensive against forces of the Iranian- and Russian-backed Syrian government since Wednesday, the same day a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighbouring Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, a Damascus ally, after two months of all-out war.
"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions... took control of most of the city and government centres and prisons", said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
HTS, a jihadist alliance led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, controls swathes of the Idlib region in Syria's northwest, as well as parts of neighbouring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces. Allied Turkish-backed rebel factions have also been taking part in the offensive.
Overnight, Russian "warplanes launched raids on areas of Aleppo city for the first time since 2016", added the Observatory which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
AFPTV images showed fires burning in part of the city after the air strikes. Streets were largely deserted but AFP images showed rebels outside a Syrian Telecom building and the landmark citadel.
An opposition flag hung from a traffic light.
