Qaeda, HTS has since rejected transnational jihad but maintains an authoritarian rule rooted in Salafist principles

The Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which seized Aleppo in a shock offensive over the weekend, is an Islamist movement that has long ruled swathes of the country's northwest.

Assad’s favor after a Russian blitzkrieg on Aleppo helped him regain control over the country’s second biggest city.

Opposition supporters are ecstatic but others are wary of their new Islamist rulers as Assad regime begins counteroffensive

Syrian rebels shocked the country with a lightning offensive on its biggest city and the surrounding region starting last week, upending a 13-year-old civil war that had been dormant for several years.

Syrian opposition fighters have launched a lightning offensive, capturing most of Aleppo and arriving as far south as Hama in a matter of days as government forces retreated. The rebels’ rapid gains – the most significant since 2016 – have thrust Syria’s various opposition factions back into the spotlight.

In an escalation of the Syrian civil war, rebels have captured most of Aleppo. Olaf Scholz visits Kyiv and promises further cooperation. President-elect Trump’s conflicting views on electric vehicles and President Biden’s trip to Angola.

Opposition forces seeking to overthrow Syria's President Bashar al-Assad launched their biggest offensive in years last week, retaking the northern city of Aleppo and driving government forces out of the region.

Multiple rebel factions and militant groups participated in the battle for Aleppo, code-named Operation Deterrence of Aggression, and headed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, Islamist group that contro

But the driving force behind the fighting is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a "formidable" and controversial Islamic faction that has deep roots in Syria's ongoing civil war. HTS has long been designated a terrorist group by the US,