Over a few days, rebel fighters in northern Syria have launched incursions into several major cities with little resistance from government troops.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a jihadist alliance led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch. With allied factions, the group attacked government-held areas of the northern province of Aleppo and the northwestern Idlib region on 25 November.

Assad, the Syrian dictator, to retake Aleppo after part of the city fell to insurgents in 2012. Less than four days is how long it took him to lose it. On November 27th rebels launched a surprise offensive in north-west Syria.

Thousands of Syrian insurgents took over most of Aleppo on Saturday, establishing positions in the country’s largest city and controlling its airport before expanding their shock offensive to a nearby province. They faced little to no resistance from government troops, according to fighters and activists.

Rebel forces in Syria have seized control of most of the city Aleppo after launching a surprise offensive against government forces, a war monitor reported on Saturday as Russia says it deployed fighter jets against rebels in Syria.

The insurgent offensive, shocking for its speed, has posed the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years.

Video posted by pro-opposition media in Syria shows militants in Aleppo’s western suburbs removing the Syrian national flag from a monument.

Syria state media say government troops are battling insurgents inside the country’s largest city Aleppo for the first time since 2016

The lightning assault on Aleppo by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham abruptly redrew the front lines of Syria’s civil war.

The Syrian army said on Saturday dozens of its soldiers had been killed in a major attack led by Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels who swept into the city of Aleppo, forcing the army to redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years.