Within the past week entire neighborhoods in the rebel-held enclave of eastern Aleppo have fallen to the Syrian government. In this dense urban terrain, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have advanced at a speed that few had thought possible.
As rebel control over eastern Aleppo crumbles, the Syrian government must feel that it is winning. Its strategy, both ruthless and relentless, has paid off. Without Aleppo the Syrian opposition and its foreign backers will have no practical way forward, against a regime that seems more safely embedded in the heartland of the country than at any point in the past five years.
With so much currently up in the air, a new U.S. president on his way into office who has expressed doubts about the Syrian opposition, and the European Union preparing to reorganize its Syria policy, developments in Aleppo could well change the parameters of the Syrian conflict.