Nader Durgham
For four years, it seemed as if President Bashar al-Assad's army had largely won the civil war in Syria.
Regional and international actors were re-establishing ties with the Syrian government, believing the conflict to have generally wrapped up, with Syrian and Russian forces occasionally targeting rebel-held pockets in the northwest.
Travel vloggers were regularly invited to trips to Damascus, Aleppo and other areas to promote tourism while the government’s main concerns were the increasing Israeli strikes on Iranian and Hezbollah positions and figures in the country.
All that carefully balanced relative calm collapsed when the Syrian army, seemingly overwhelmed and overpowered, lost the major cities of Aleppo and Hama in a single week following a surprise rebel offensive.
While rebels have engaged in fierce fighting with government forces in some areas and encountered some resistance, their advances have been relatively smooth, capturing large swathes of land around Aleppo and Hama as Syrian government officials say they are regrouping outside the lost cities.
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