It has been reported on Monday that the battle for Aleppo was nearing its end after over five years of bloody civil war.
Sky News cited the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, saying the rebels had retreated from the remaining six neighbourhoods, clearing the way for a government reclamation of the city.
Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and backed by Russian air support have been making steady gains in the city for several months, slowly pushing from the west into the opposition-held east.
Since the war broke out five years ago, 250,000 people have been trapped in the besieged city, thousands more have died, there are no more working hospitals, and airstrikes have left ancient mosques and homes under blankets of dust and rubble.
The city is a shell of its former self.
Looking at photos of the city before and after the war serves as a sobering reminder of the catastrophic consequences of the conflict.
This is Aleppo today. For the last five years, the Syrian city has been crumbling under conflict and intense shelling from Russian-backed government forces and rebels fighting against President Assad's regime.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been trapped in the besieged city. Hospitals and schools have been destroyed. In the east, rebel fighters are rapidly losing ground as government forces regain territory.
But life in Aleppo wasn't always this way. The city had spent centuries evolving into the country's largest industrial and commercial hub and is one of the oldest inhabited cities in human history. It was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1986.
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