Who are Syria’s resurgent rebels?

Rebel forces have launched their largest offensive in years against Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria.

After a lightning strike launched on Wednesday, the rebels have largely taken control of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, and are now fighting to take control of the city of Hama.

The offensive has prompted “the first Russian strikes on Aleppo since 2016″, and has seen the Syrian military withdraw its troops from the city for first time since the civil war began, said the BBC.

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The group – its name means Organization for the Liberation of the Levant – seems to have fairly limited, local goals. Its stated aims are to establish fundamentalist Islamic rule in Syria, rather than a wider caliphate (as groups like Islamic State have tried and failed to do).