On November 30, the Syrian army announced a "temporary withdrawal" from the northern city of Aleppo to prepare for a counterattack against rebel forces.

The Syrian army stated that the above withdrawal was part of an effort to redeploy forces while waiting for reinforcements to arrive to launch a counterattack.

The Syrian army also admitted that rebel fighters had captured "large areas" of Aleppo, while dozens of soldiers were killed and wounded in large-scale fighting.

The Damascus government said "armed terrorist organizations" had launched "large-scale attacks from multiple directions on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts," leading to fierce battles in an area more than 100 kilometers long.

Rebel forces earlier said they had reached the centre of Aleppo - Syria's second largest city - after a surprise attack on government-held towns.

Rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have launched a large-scale attack on more than 50 towns and villages on their way to Syria's northern Aleppo province since November 27, marking the first time Aleppo has been attacked since 2016, when government forces regained control from rebels.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on November 29 that militants used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the attacks, destroying a helicopter at an airbase in southeastern Aleppo. Clashes between the Syrian army and rebel forces have left hundreds of people dead and wounded.

Syrian state TV denied that rebels had captured the city of Aleppo and said the Syrian army was continuing to repel attacks, and had inflicted heavy losses on rebels in the Aleppo and Idlib countryside.