Pro-govt Russian planes carry out air strikes on parts of city for first time since 2016

A monitor of Syria's war said on Nov 30 that rebels controlled most of Aleppo city, reporting Russian air strikes on parts of Syria's second-largest city for the first time since 2016.

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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 Nov 27, the same day a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighboring 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 faction took control of most of the city and government centers and prisons", said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

HTS, a militant alliance led by Al Qaeda's former Syria branch, controls swathes of the Idlib region, in Syria's north-west, as well as parts of neighboring 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.

The Syrian army said it was preparing a counter-offensive to restore state authority.

"The large numbers of terrorists and the multiplicity of battlefronts prompted our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counter-attack," the army said.