It was a good fit for Idlib, which had been a source of militant resistance to the Assad government at the very outset of the civil war. As of this writing, HTS fighters have reached the center of Aleppo and seized a town that commands the M5 highway,

Syrian rebels have launched their first major offensive in the country in four years, claiming to have beaten government forces back several miles and captured a dozen villages west of Aleppo.

Rebel forces in Syria say they have entered the country’s second-largest city, Aleppo, in the biggest offensive against the government in years. Video posted on a channel affiliated with the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) appears to show their fighters in vehicles inside the city.