The leader of Syria’s most powerful insurgent group has toured the seized city of Aleppo in a surprise visit, for the first time since the group captured large parts of the city last weekend, as fierce fighting intensifies in the government-led counter-offensive in northern Hama.

Opposition supporters are ecstatic but others are wary of their new Islamist rulers as Assad regime begins counteroffensive

Eight years ago, Syria’s civil war shifted in President Bashar Al-Assad’s favor after a Russian blitzkrieg on Aleppo helped him regain control over the country’s second biggest city.