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Syrian government forces hit the city of Aleppo with heavy airstrikes聽late聽Thursday聽and into Friday聽in an attempt to push back a rebel offensive earlier Thursday.

That offensive marked the heaviest insurgent attack in three years of fighting in Aleppo, Syria鈥檚 second city, Reuters reports.聽 Both the initial rebel attack and the return airstrikes suggest the city鈥檚 strategic importance to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad as it struggles to maintain a toehold in northwestern Syria in the face of strong rebel advances across the region.

As Reuters reports:

The fighting this week in Aleppo comes on the heels of major losses for Mr. Assad at the hands of several rebel groups in recent months, reports Agence France-Presse.

Of particular concern to Assad is the loss of large chunks of territory in the northwestern province of Idlib, which is now largely under the control of a rebel alliance calling itself the Army of Conquest, led by Al-Nusra. Those incursions have been heavily supported by Turkey, which told Reuters it had intensified its military presence along its Syrian border in response to the events in Aleppo in recent days.

Thursday鈥檚聽rebel advance killed five fighters and four civilians across several districts of the city, as well as injuring 70 more, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group monitoring the war. As the BBC reports:

For its part, the Syrian government claims rebels used so-called 鈥渉ell cannons,鈥� informal mortar bombs made out of cooking cylinders, in their bombardments of government-held positions. State news agency Sana reported government estimates that more than 100 鈥渢errorists鈥� were killed in the airstrikes overnight, the BBC says.

Turkey, meanwhile, said that although it had intensified its presence on the border, it would not be involved in the fighting in Aleppo.

鈥淣o one should have the expectation that Turkey will enter Syria聽tomorrow聽or in the near future,鈥� Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu聽told a local broadcaster late聽Thursday, reports Al Bawaba, a Jordanian news agency.聽

Elsewhere in Syria, Assad鈥檚 forces have recently ceded ground to a patchwork of rebel groups 鈥� including the central city of Palmyra, now controlled by the self-described Islamic State, and southern territories ruled by an insurgent alliance called the 鈥淪outhern Front,鈥� Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting continues between government forces and the Islamic Sate in the city of Hasaka, in the northeast, and the city of Deraa in the south.

Aleppo, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, has been the site of near-constant fighting since 2012. In addition to the thousands of residents killed, the clashes have destroyed nearly two-thirds of the city鈥檚 Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.