Islamist rebels have reportedly taken control of a second major city in Syria – despite Russia launching air raids to support the regime of Vladimir Putin‘s ally, President Bashar al-Assad.

This lunchtime (Saturday, November 30), Arabic news sources claimed that Sunni Islamist insurgents had taken control of the city of Idlib. The report came just hours after parts of Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, reportedly fell into rebel hands for the first time in nine years.

Syria’s military said jihadists had entered “large parts” of Aleppo and dozens of soldiers had been killed or injured in the fighting.

UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has also confirmed the “majority” of the city was now in rebel hands.

The advance on Aleppo followed a shock offensive launched by insurgents on Wednesday, as thousands of fighters swept through villages and towns in Syria’s north-western countryside. Residents fled neighbourhoods on the city’s edge because of missiles and gunfire, according to witnesses in Aleppo.

SOHR, which monitors the country’s unresolved civil war, said dozens of fighters from both sides were killed. The attack injected new violence into the Middle East, already experiencing dual wars in Gaza and Lebanon involving Israel, and other conflicts, including the Syrian civil war that began in 2011.

Aleppo has not been attacked by opposition forces since they were ousted from eastern neighbourhoods in 2016, following a gruelling military campaign in which Syrian government forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups. But this time, there was no sign of a significant pushback from government forces or their allies.

Instead, reports emerged of government forces melting away in the face of advances, and insurgents posted messages on social media calling on troops to surrender. Robert Ford, who was the last US ambassador to Syria, said the attack showed that Syrian government forces are “extremely weak”. In some cases, he said, they appear to have “almost been routed”.

On Friday, the Kremlin said that it considered the attack an encroachment on Syria’s sovereignty and that it supported the quickest possible establishment of constitutional order in the region.

“Of course, this is a violation of Syria’s sovereignty in this region,” Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a press briefing. Russia‘s military said it had bombed “extremist forces”, according to Russian news agencies.

Syrian and Russian planes carried out 23 air strikes near Idlib on Friday, according to SOHR. The UK-based monitoring group, which uses a network of sources on the ground in Syria, said four civilians were killed and 19 others were injured in the Russian strikes.

However, this lunchtime, the Saudi state-owned news website alarabiya.net said on X: “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [a Sunni Islamist political and militant group] and the factions confirm that all of Idlib is under their control.”

Meanwhile, Syria’s state media reported that projectiles from insurgents landed in student accommodations at Aleppo’s university in the city centre, killing four people, including two students.

Syrian armed forces said the insurgents are violating a 2019 agreement that de-escalated fighting in the area, the last remaining opposition stronghold for years. Hezbollah was “the main force” in the government’s control of Aleppo, said Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Observatory.