Aleppo in crisis

For more than five years of fighting in Syria, the city of Aleppo stood as a bastion of groups opposed to the continuing bloody rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

An alliance of forces and ideologies, from troops supported by the West and Turkey, to armed groups formerly linked to al-Qaeda, held the eastern part of the city through months of siege and bombardment by Assad's air force and their Russian and Iranian allies.

But, after a huge regime offensive, thousands were evacuated as civilians, opposition fighters and their allies were routed from the city, one of the last strongholds of resistance to Assad.

Does the fall of Aleppo mark the beginning of the end of the Syrian civil war? Catch up with all our coverage here.