Rebels storm Assad-controlled Aleppo

JIHADISTS and their Turkish-backed allies reached Syria's second city of Aleppo on Friday, as they pressed a lightning offensive against forces of the government backed by Iran and Russia.

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The fighting is some of the deadliest in years, with 255 people killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Most of the dead have been combatants but the toll also includes 24 civilians, most killed in Russian air strikes.

The offensive began on Wednesday, the same day that a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighboring Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

By Friday, the jihadists and their allies had wrested control of more than 50 towns and villages in the north, according to the Britain-based Observatory, in the government's biggest loss of territory in years.