Syrian rebels unite in ‘battle of destiny’ for Aleppo

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But after four years of war, the rebels are not only drained, they are losing their way.

Fighters once complained of the government’s overwhelming air power or their own internal divisions. Now, they say, the biggest problem is navigating an internationalised civil war that has drawn in proxy Shia militias, foreign Sunni jihadis and the US and other nations’ air forces.

To Syrians in the opposition, Aleppo’s fate is a barometer of how a US-led intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as Isis, will affect their struggle to end four decades of Assad family rule.