Rebel forces seize eastern Aleppo in July 2012, splitting Syria's largest city into government west and opposition east for four years of siege, barrel bombing and urban attrition — the war's longest and most emblematic battle.
Why it mattersAleppo divided was the war in miniature: neither side could win until outside power decided it. Its 2016 fall marked the regime's Russian-enabled ascendancy — and its 2024 fall, in days, the hollowness of that victory.