Assad, the Syrian dictator, to retake Aleppo after part of the city fell to insurgents in 2012. Less than four days is how long it took him to lose it. On November 27th rebels launched a surprise offensive in north-west Syria.

With Russia and Iran devoting much of their resources to their own wars, the Syrian rebels took Aleppo with little resistance from the Assad regime.

The surprise attack, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, was the boldest rebel assault for years in the civil war that has been frozen.