Thousands of Syrian insurgents have taken over most of Aleppo, establishing positions in the country’s largest city and controlling its airport before expanding their shock offensive to a nearby province.

Thousands of Syrian insurgents fanned out inside Syria's largest city, Aleppo, a day after storming it with little resistance from government troops.

The lightning assault on Aleppo by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham abruptly redrew the front lines of Syria’s civil war.