diff --git a/rc/filetype/markdown.kak b/rc/filetype/markdown.kak
index d6d95b145..3db7ca1d6 100644
--- a/rc/filetype/markdown.kak
+++ b/rc/filetype/markdown.kak
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ evaluate-commands %sh{
     printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s region -match-capture ^(\h*)```\h*(%s\\b|\\{[.=]?%s\\})   ^(\h*)``` regions\n' "${lang}" "${lang}" "${lang}"
     printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s/ default-region fill meta\n' "${lang}"
     [ "${lang}" = kak ] && ref=kakrc || ref="${lang}"
-    printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s/inner region \A```[^\\n]*\K (?=```) ref %s\n' "${lang}" "${ref}"
+    printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s/inner region \A\h*```[^\\n]*\K (?=```) ref %s\n' "${lang}" "${ref}"
   done
 }