It was 2am on Saturday when Nasma’s husband told her there were uniformed fighters in their neighbourhood of western Aleppo – but they were not from the Syrian army. He stood on their balcony to get a better view, before the men told him to go back indoors.
News of the militias’ advance in the countryside around Aleppo had spread fast, although Nasma – who requested a pseudonym for her safety – didn’t believe that change was coming until she saw displaced people arriving in the city from surrounding villages.
