Rebels outside Aleppo have launched the opening salvo of a battle aimed at breaking the siege of the opposition-controlled east of the city.
Opposition fighters fired hundreds of Katyusha and Grad rockets and artillery shells to lay the groundwork for an advance of rebel troops, who marched on territory controlled by the government of Bashar al-Assad from the west of Syrias former industrial capital.
The offensive prompted the Russian defence ministry to ask President Vladimir Putin for permission to resume air strikes against the rebel-held east after 10 days in which the army said it had not struck, but a Kremlin spokesman said Putin did not believe for now it was necessary to restart the strikes.
The offensive began in the early hours of Friday. By the early afternoon the rebels had seized a district known as Dahiyat al-Assad, and begun shelling adjacent neighbourhoods in an effort to push further towards the besieged east.
The aim appeared to be the creation of a corridor that would link rebel-held Aleppo to the surrounding countryside dominated by the opposition, though rebel commanders have not outlined their path for fear of compromising military operations.
Among the factions that appear to be taking part in the battle to break the siege are Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the former al-Qaida affiliate in Syria; the powerful Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham; and the Turkish-backed rebels the Sham Front.
Jabhat Fateh al-Sham was also a key element in the rebel offensive to break the siege in August. Its role will complicate the battlefield though the group claims to have severed its links to al-Qaida, few believe that that would mean a change in ideology or loyalty.
But it has emerged as a powerful fighting force against Assad and increasingly entrenched itself within the opposition, which has seen middling military support from its international backers.
Ceasefire efforts brokered by the US and Russia have in the past aimed to isolate the group from other rebel fighters, but those have failed.
