Their action was in response to an offensive launched by the rebels, who said they were aiming to break a weeks-long government siege on the rebel-held eastern side of the city.

That assault, employing heavy shelling and suicide car bombs, was mainly focused on the city's western edge by rebels based in the countryside outside Aleppo.

Those involved included Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, a former affiliate of al Qaeda previously known as the Nusra Front, and groups fighting under the Free Syrian Army (FSA) banner.

The Syrian army video shows soldiers launching a heavy barrage of fire, using tanks, artillery and mortars, in what the army said was western Aleppo, without giving a more specific location.

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