Eight years ago, Syria’s civil war shifted in President Bashar Al-Assad’s favor after a Russian blitzkrieg on Aleppo helped him regain control over the country’s second biggest city.

By Sunday, they had taken control of "large parts" of the country's second-biggest city, Aleppo and were advancing towards Hama in the south. The surprise offensive prompted the first Russian strikes on Aleppo since 2016,

The Syrian military rushed reinforcements to the northwest and launched airstrikes Sunday in an attempt to push back insurgents who seized the country's largest city of Aleppo, as Iran pledged to help the government counter the surprise offensive.

Anti-government rebels seized control of Syria's second-largest city of Aleppo on Saturday. Their advance ignites a new phase of the country's long-running civil war.