It has now been reported that jihadist troops in Syria have now reached the city of Aleppo, the second-largest city in the country, as part of the most significant new offensive against the government in recent years.
A video that was uploaded to a channel that is associated with the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) appears to show their fighters within the city in trucks.
The footage has been geolocated to a suburb tagged in the western part of the city by BBC Verify.
Since they were driven out of Aleppo by the government in 2016, this is the first time that rebels fighting against the forces of President Bashar al-Assad have made it to the strategic city.
In the meantime, government troops have reported that they have retaken positions in a number of towns located in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib.
This comes as a result of an offensive that was started on Wednesday by HTS and associated organizations.
Over a half a million people have lost their lives as a result of the civil war that broke out in 2011 as a direct result of the government’s crackdown on political demonstrations in support of democracy.
A wide variety of armed factions that are opposed to the government of Assad, including jihadists, took advantage of the upheaval in order to conquer large swaths of territory.
With assistance from Russia and other allies, the Syrian government eventually retook the majority of the territories that it had previously lost.
According to the government, reinforcements have now arrived in Aleppo, and they are currently forcing the rebels out of the city.
Since 2020, when Turkey and Russia, Syria’s most important ally, agreed a ceasefire to stop a campaign by the government to seize the region of Idlib, fighting in Idlib has largely subsided.
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