Five questions about the fall of Aleppo

aleppo - The Syrian city of Aleppo is about to fall on the point. It would be a major victory for the Syrian army in six years of civil war. What are the consequences of the fall of the largest city in the country with its more than 2 million inhabitants? Five questions and answers.

No. The city is the center of resistance against the regime of President Assad, but it is certainly not the only place where rebels are hiding and want to maintain. The opposition did not give up the fight said George Sabra will be one of the leaders of the rebels last month. 'Aleppo is not the end of the war,' Assad also said recently.

The president said in October Aleppo regarded as a springboard for offensives elsewhere. Notably Idlib (55. 000) he sees as a target. This city is just 60 kilometers southwest of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey.

Fighting in Syria about 150. 000 rebels. The biggest losers after the fall of eastern Aleppo, the moderate insurgents. The role of Islamic extremists will grow in the fight against Assad, said Charlie Lister of the Middle East Institute in Washington. In the north will certainly change the character of the fighting a fight in one concentrated place in a much more difficult and more widespread guerrilla warfare.

It will be difficult to get local and foreign militias, as well as cities where he keeps it in control, under control. His regime has simply not to include areas in a permanent grip capacity. That was so late in Homs and Palmyra, where Islamic State simply made use of the fact that there are few Syrian soldiers were now almost everyone fighting in Aleppo, says Lina Chatib of the British Institute of International Relations.

That is the great unknown factor in the complicated situation. The new leader of the United States has expressed openness to a more cooperative partnership with his Russian opponent Putin. Trump said, especially Islamic State wanting to fight rather than to be out in the fall of Assad.