"Aleppo is the most important economic center in the country, excluding Damascus. It is also the capital of the province which allows the authorities to control northern Syria, Kurdish-populated areas on the border with Turkey and northwestern Iraq," the analyst explained.
The battle for Aleppo has long been viewed as the key to resolving the Syrian crisis. Unsurprisingly, the city's liberation has had a ripple effect across the country. The victory has weakened radical groups located in the province of Idlib. It will also be instrumental in severing what Khrolenko described as a "black corridor" stretching from the Turkish border to Iraq through Aleppo, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor.
"Until recently, the militants controlled key oil fields and communications channels with Turkey in the Euphrates valley. Aleppo's liberation has undermined the economic base of terrorist groups and the supply routes to Raqqa, the capital of Daesh's caliphate," the analyst said. "Now the Syrian Arab Army could focus on two regions, Idlib and Raqqa."
The Syrian Arab Army "destroyed the terrorist enclave in Aleppo, eliminating numerous springs of a mechanism created by the West to wreck sovereign states. The loss of the second largest city in the country is a devastating blow for adversaries of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He now has an opportunity to strengthen statehood over much of the country," the analyst explained.
This is not to say that there have been no setbacks. On Monday, Daesh recaptured Palmyra, an iconic ancient city which has already been partially destroyed by the brutal group.
In Khrolenko's opinion, the loss of Aleppo could well become a lesson for NATO leadership and US President Barack Obama, whose policies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have become a failure.
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