The long-running civil war in Syria has unexpectedly sprung back into the spotlight after rebel groups launched a surprise offensive on Aleppo, one of the country’s largest cities. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has vowed to crush the rebel uprising, prompting air strikes from Russian forces allied with his regime. This is an unexpected resurgence of a conflict that has been largely dormant for years.

Azadeh Moshiri speaks with BBC Monitoring's jihadist media specialist Mina Al-Lami and BBC correspondent Barbara Plett Usher about who these rebels are and whether this will this redraw the lines of the Syrian conflict.

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