Advance by insurgents in Syria reaches country’s second largest city

Syrian opposition fighters enter the village of Anjara, on the western outskirts of Aleppo (Omar Albam/AP)

Syrian insurgents have breached the country’s second largest city, Aleppo, after blowing up two car bombs, and were clashing with government forces on the city’s western edge, according to a war monitor and fighters.

It is the first time the city has been attacked by opposition forces since 2016, when they were ousted from Aleppo’s eastern neighbourhoods following a gruelling military campaign in which Syrian government forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.