Russia has begun a major military campaign on rebel-held parts of Syria after the country’s biggest surface deployment since the Cold War docked at a naval base on the Syrian coast.

Tthe new strikes on Homs and Idlib provinces are designed to wipe out al-Qaeda affiliated and Isis fighters, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

While he did not mention besieged east Aleppo, residents and activists in the city report dozens of strikes have hit opposition-held neighbourhoods in the last 48 hours, killing at least five civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“Today, we started a major operation to launch massive strikes on [Isis] and al-Nusra Front targets in the Idlib and Homs provinces [in Syria],” Mr Shoigu said on Tuesday.

“For the first time in the history of participation of the Russian Navy in operations, the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrying cruiser began taking part. Our Su-33 aircraft began working from this cruiser today. Before this, we carried out very careful, thorough reconnaissance of all targets,” he said.

The formidable Admiral Kuznetsov - commissioned in 1990 and recently refitted at a cost thought to exceed $1billion - is capable of launching cruise missiles at targets up to 250 miles (400 km) away. Mr Shoigu said that strikes will target weapons depots and arms factories used by rebels.

Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Show all 16 1 /16 Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A girl who fled areas of conflict rides a vehicle in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigade have a tea in a building under construction Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A rebel fighters' armoured vehicle in Dahiyet al-Assad Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades sit on a tank Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Abandoned magazine of shells after rebel fighters took control of Dahiyet al-Assad Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters ride a pick-up truck with civilians who fled areas of conflict in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A rebel fighter gestures with a girl who fled areas of conflict while they ride a pick-up truck in Dahiyet al-Assad Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Smoke rises near a damaged road in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Syrians carry their belongings as they leave the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-,Assad Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo A view shows a damaged minaret of a mosque after rebel fighters took control of Dahiyet al-Assad, Syria Reuters Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel groups have pledged to push from newly captured positions in the Dahiyet al-Assad district towards Hamdaniyeh. Rebels and allied jihadists launched a major offensive on October 28, 2016 to break through government lines and reach the 250,000 people living in the city's east Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel groups have pledged to push from newly captured positions in the Dahiyet al-Assad district towards Hamdaniyeh Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades hold a position at an entrance to Aleppo, in the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Smoke billows from the frontline district of Dahiyet al-Assad following an attack by rebels on Syrian regime forces in the northern city of Aleppo Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo Syrians carry their belongings as they leave the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad Getty Dahiyet al-Assad - Aleppo People who fled areas of conflict ride a pick-up truck in Dahiyet al-Assad, west Aleppo city, Syria Reuters

The blitz comes the day after a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump in which the Kremlin said the two agreed on their “number one enemy” of international “extremism and terrorism.”

Russia began lending Syrian President Bashar al-Assad military assistance in September 2015, a move which has been credited with turning the balance of the war in the government’s favour.

Its aerial campaigns are now backed up with the huge Black Sea naval deployment: the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier joins the Admiral Grigorovic and the Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great) nuclear-powered battle cruiser, both of which arrived at the Russian naval base in the regime stronghold of Latakia on the Mediterranean two weeks ago.

While British navy officials dismissed the huge deployment as “posturing,” the fleet poses a serious threat to rebels fighting the Russian-backed regime in Syria’s bloody civil war.

Aleppo offensive

The threat of the ships’ firepower has in effect cut off any possibility of aerial intervention by the US-led Western coalition, which broadly supports Syria’s rebels in the six-year-old conflict.

Nato intelligence had previously warned that Mr Putin was planning a huge assault on Aleppo while the US was distracted by the November 8 election and its aftermath.

The renewed attack comes after a month-long humanitarian moratorium on air strikes on the area and is feared to be a ‘final push’ to oust rebels from the city for good.