RUSSIA carried out a series of air strikes in Syria today as Islamist insurgents continued to push into territory further south.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that rural parts of Idlib and Hama had been hit by the strikes.

The Syrian military has rushed reinforcements to the north-west to push back jihadists who have seized Aleppo in their first offensive in years.

The area was captured by Isis in 2014, but the murderous jihadist group was later defeated by the Syrian Arab Army, with Russian air support, and Kurdish militias.

At least 48 civilians, including a child and four university students, have been killed in combat between opposition forces, led by jihadist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and the Syrian army and its allies since Wednesday.

HTS has dominated an Idlib-based government under Turkish military protection since late 2017.

According to the controversial Syrian Civil Defence volunteer group, better known as the White Helmets, government air strikes in Idlib killed at least three civilians, two of them children.

Russian air strikes also killed 12 people after fighter jets struck Aleppo’s University Hospital, both groups confirmed.

A total of nearly 400 people are estimated to have died since Wednesday.

Syrian state television reported that government forces had killed nearly 1,000 opposition fighters over the past three days, but did not provide evidence.

President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to defend the country, saying: “Terrorism only understands the language of force, which is the language we will break and eliminate it with, regardless of its supporters and sponsors.”

But opposition fighters who have taken control of Aleppo in a surprise attack are continuing to push into several strategic towns in the countryside near Iblis and Hama.

United Nations special envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen said that the resurgence of large-scale fighting in the conflict was “a mark of collective failure” to bring about a ceasefire.

He said: “The Syrian parties and key international stakeholders need to be seriously engaged in meaningful and substantive negotiations to find a way out of the conflict.

“Without this, Syria is in danger of further division, deterioration and destruction.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was expected to meet Syrian government and military officials in Damascus last night.