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The Syrian civil war, which has left around half a million people dead, began in 2011 after the Assad government responded to pro-democracy protests with a brutal crackdown. The conflict has been largely dormant since a ceasefire agreed in 2020, but opposition forces have maintained control of the north-western city of Idlib and much of the surrounding province. According to reports from the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, opposition fighters seized nearly all of the city of Aleppo from the government on Sunday except for the neighbourhoods controlled by Kurdish forces. Syria’s military withdrew from the city to prepare a counteroffensive. We hear from those caught up in the fighting.

Also on the programme: a rare report from West Darfur in Sudan; and how an old term - ‘’brain-rot’’ - became the new word of the year.

(Picture: Syrian rebels take control of military and civilian airports in Aleppo, Syria. Credit: Bilal al Hammoud/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)