Syrian rebels captured Aleppo’s airport and a majority of the city in a lightning advance that has stunned Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Fighters broke through government lines in the west, captured the airport in the east and also appeared in photographs outside the medieval citadel in the centre of Syria’s second city.

The Syrian army on Saturday admitted that rebels had entered large parts of the city and said regime forces had staged a temporary withdrawal to prepare a counter-offensive.

The withdrawal was part of a regrouping effort ahead of the arrival of reinforcements to launch the counter-attack, it claimed.

Dozens of soldiers had been killed or injured in fierce battles with insurgents in Aleppo and Idlib over the past few days, the military said.

Video showed fighters patrolling around the airport on Saturday morning, after the regime had halted flights on Friday as the offensive reached the city.