Assad Regime Gains in Aleppo Alter Balance of Power in Northern Syria
February 5, 2016 - Chris Kozak![](https://understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumb-wide/public/Regime%20Campaign%20-%20Aleppo%20FEB%202016%20%282%29-01.png?itok=qfMAtJ4L)
Battlefield realities rather than great power politics will determine the ultimate terms of a settlement to end the Syrian Civil War. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies in Russia and Iran have internalized this basic principle even as Washington and other Western capitals pinned their hopes upon UN-sponsored Geneva Talks, which faltered only two days after they began.