All you need to know about the fall of Syria's biggest city

Traditional news media has a way of blurring the essence of a story with a lot of mumbo-jumbo and news talk, here is a breakdown of what is/was going on in the city of Aleppo.

Aleppo was once the most populous state in Syria. According to a census in 2004, over 2 million people lived in the city.

For three years (2013-2016), Aleppo was the battle ground between President of Syria

Iran and Russia helped the Assad government in the fight with rebels while the rebels were backed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These external influences helped turn the tide of the war many times.

September 21, 2015, is regarded as the turning point in the battle for Aleppo. Russia intervened directly for the first time and dropped bombs on the rebel-controlled part of the city. Russia did this under the guise of fighting ISIS. By bombing the city, Aleppo became blocked by Assad's forces and supplies could not be brought into the city. This extreme strategy started affecting the rebels.

Trapped in, massacres within the city happened immediately. People in Aleppo started committing suicide so as not to be killed by Assad's forces.

America had the power to prevent the fall of Aleppo but the options were not favourable. First, if the USA was to intervene that meant it had to work with rebels on the ground. Secondly, American jets would have to fly over hostile airspace making it come face-to-face with Russian Airforce. A direct fight between two nuclear powers is not what the world wants right now. Lastly, intervening in Syria meant that America would have to commit long-term to ensuring Assad does not continue the siege after it left.

On Monday, December 19, 2016, the ceasefire between both forces was back on after it failed a few days before. Buses have started evacuating the sick and the wounded in the Eastern part of the city.