Aleppo is Syria’s largest metropolitan area and a millennia-old commercial hub. Today, however, it is a relative ghost town, threatened by regime bombing from the air and a militant offensive on the ground.
For two weeks this summer, VICE News embedded with the Islamic Front, a coalition of Islamist rebels fighting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad on one hand and Islamic State militants on the other. From their secret tunnels beneath the ancient city to their threatened frontline outposts in Aleppo’s ruined medieval center, we followed the Islamic Front as it battled against overwhelming odds to retain control of the capital of the Syrian revolution.