Jihadist rebels drive along the Aleppo- Damascus M5 international highway in the newly captured northwestern area of Khan al-Assal, as smoke rises in the distance. AFP
Militants and their allies reached Syria's second city on Friday, pressing a lightning offensive against forces of the Syrian government.
The fighting is some of the deadliest in years in Syria's civil war.
"The Russian air force is carrying out rocket-bomb attacks on the equipment and manpower of illegal armed groups, control points, warehouses and artillery positions of terrorists," news agencies reported a spokesperson for the defence ministry's Reconciliation Centre for Syria as saying.
It said that 200 militants had been "destroyed" over the last 24 hours.
"The operation to repel the aggression of the extremists continues," said Oleg Ignasyuk, deputy head of the Russian reconciliation centre, state media reported.
Moscow is Syria's most important military backer, having turned the tide of the war in the government's favour when it intervened in 2015.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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