‘Resistance was not a choice’: how Syria’s unlikely rebel alliance took Aleppo
An Islamist commander retraces his brigade’s march to seize the Syrian city
Abu Obeida, the commander of the Northern Storm Brigade, left his mud-camouflaged Toyota running as he got out to inspect the dirt road running through the no man’s land that separated his rural base north west of Aleppo from a Hezbollah position 200 metres away.
A month ago, this front against the Lebanese group was where the Islamist rebel offensive that changed Syria for ever began. The 25-year-old’s unit was supposed to sweep for landmines and unexploded ordnance among the olive groves in the aftermath of the opposition’s stunning 12-day rout of Bashar al-Assad and his Russian, Iranian and Lebanese allies. It quickly became apparent that, amid many other more pressing tasks, his people hadn’t been thorough enough.
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