Syrian regime says it has taken full control of Aleppo

The Syrian regime says it has taken full control of Aleppo, state-run media announced Thursday, marking a major turning point in the country’s five-year civil war.

Government forces and their allies now control eastern Aleppo, ending more than four years of rebel rule there.

The battle came from both the ground and sky. President Bashar al-Assad’s troops and supporting militias entered eastern Aleppo by ground in late November. The regime and Russia – its most powerful ally – decimated neighborhoods with airstrikes, leaving scorched earth where a bustling metropolis once stood.

The government already controls western Aleppo. Now, regime control of the east spells the end of the rebels’ last urban stronghold, returning putting the government back in control of the country’s four major cities and making an opposition government less likely.

It’s a major setback for those who have long sought an end to four decades of Assad family rule.

Assad on Thursday called the takeover a “liberation” from terrorists, referring to rebel fighters. For those who survived the yearslong siege, the takeover means a cessation of the near-daily barrage of airstrikes, explosive barrels, artillery, cluster bombs, bunker-busters and bombs loaded with chlorine gas. No one was impervious to the attacks. In many cases, civilians and children were among the thousands killed.

A Syrian man reacts while standing on the rubble of his house while others look for survivors and bodies in the Tariq al-Bab district of the northern city of Aleppo on February 23, 2013.

A Free Syrian Army fighter aims his weapon during clashes with government forces in Aleppo on Tuesday, January 15, 2013.

A member of the Syrian pro-government forces stands amid heavily damaged buildings in Aleppo's 1070 district on November 8, 2016, after troops seized it from rebel fighters.

A wounded Syrian boy cries after bombs fell on the opposition-controlled Firdevs neighborhood in Aleppo on October 11, 2016.

Smoke rises after a bomb explodes in a residential area in the Darat Izza neighborhood of Aleppo on October 4, 2016.

Search and rescue team members carry an injured man after Syrian regime airstrikes targeted the Meshed neighborhood of Aleppo on July 21, 2016.

A rebel fighter aims his weapon toward Syrian government forces' positions at the Menagh military airport near Aleppo on March 13, 2013.

The body of a Syrian army soldier lies on the ground after heavy clashes with government forces at a military academy besieged by the rebels in Tal Sheer village, north of Aleppo, on December 16, 2012.

Debris covers a street and flames rise from a building after a reported airstrike by Syrian government forces on March 7, 2014, during the Friday prayer in the Sukkari neighborhood of Aleppo.

Wounded 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh sits alone in the back of an ambulance after he was injured during a Russian or Assad regime forces airstrike targeting the Qaterji neighborhood of Aleppo on August 17, 2016.

A Syrian opposition tank fires a rocket toward an Assad forces' building during clashes near the Air Intelligence building of Jamiat al-Zahra, Aleppo, on April 13, 2015.

On September 7, 2012, Free Syrian Army fighters run after attacking a Syrian army tank during fighting in the Izaa district of Aleppo.

Search and rescue team members inspect collapsed buildings after Assad regime forces attacked residential areas in the Karm al-Beik region of Aleppo on July 9, 2015.

Syrian civil defense volunteers and rescuers remove a baby from under the rubble of a destroyed building after a reported airstrike on the rebel-held neighborhood of al-Kalasa in Aleppo on April 28, 2016.

A Free Syrian Army fighter takes cover during clashes with Syrian army soldiers in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo on August 7, 2012.

Syrian pro-government forces walk in the damaged ancient Umayyad Mosque in the old city of Aleppo on December 13, 2016, after they captured the area.

A man in front of a field hospital mourns the death of his relatives on August 21, 2012, in Aleppo.

Rubble is seen in the Salaheddine neighborhood on March 24, 2013, in Aleppo.

Syrian government forces walk in the strategic area of the Bazo hilltop, on the southern outskirts of Aleppo, as they advance to seize the rebel-held eastern part of the city on October 25, 2016.

An aerial view shows a convoy of buses and ambulances waiting at a crossing point in the Amiriyah district of Aleppo on December 15, 2016, to evacuate civilians trying to flee from areas under siege by Iran-led Shiite militias and Assad regime forces.

The battle for Aleppo in 20 photos

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Now begins a new chapter in Syria’s humanitarian crisis. Those who remain in the city fear reprisals from Assad forces. The last 35,000 civilians and rebels were evacuated from east Aleppo on Thursday, according to the United Nations, which is monitoring evacuations.

They join hundreds of thousands already evacuated to hospitals, homes and shelters. Most of them went to rebel-held areas in the countryside, raising concerns over how to ensure humanitarian aid will reach them and how to prevent those areas from becoming what one UN envoy called “the next Aleppo.”

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Others were sent to Turkey, including 7-year-old Bana Alabed, who became a prominent civilian voice through Twitter.

Very few chose to go to western Aleppo, said Jan Egeland, UN senior adviser on Syria.

“It is a race against the clock and against the winter to provide shelter, warmth and relief to people who are sick, exhausted, and malnourished from five years of war,” Egeland said.

A Syrian family leaves the area following a reported airstrike on Friday, September 23, in rebel-held east Aleppo. Following the airstrike, recovery teams from Syria Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, began working to free the trapped and recover the dead, including small children.

This photo was released by the volunteer group Syria Civil Defense of the bodies of a man, with his knee pulled up near his face, and a child covered in dust after they were killed in the airstrike.

The volunteers work to recover the bodies the man and child.

A Syrian man carries the body of his nephew, recovered from the rubble.

The volunteers remove an infant's body from the destroyed building.

A Syrian woman carries the body of her infant after he was recovered.

Syria: The tragedy of Aleppo continues

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How did this all begin?

In 2011, Assad’s forces launched a violent crackdown on activists who were demanding more economic prosperity, political freedom and civil liberties.

The move sparked a nationwide uprising and opposition members took up arms. Members of the military joined the cause, defecting and becoming rebels.

Civilians wait to be bussed out of besieged areas of eastern Aleppo, Syria, as evacuations continue on Monday, December 19. A people-swap deal struck between rebels and Syrian government forces was set to begin over the weekend, but evacuations were temporarily put on hold after a number of buses were set on fire.

Syrian pro-government forces wave to evacuees from the villages of Foua and Kefraya on December 19. While people were being bused out of Aleppo, safe passage was also given to people in areas held or besieged by rebels, the Aleppo Media Center activist group said.

Militants burned at least five buses assigned to evacuate people in Aleppo on Sunday, December 18. Aleppo has been held by rebels for the past four years, but it is now almost entirely under government control.

Buses drive through the Syrian government-controlled crossing of Ramoussa, on the southern outskirts of Aleppo, on December 18.

Russian soldiers and Syrian pro-government forces look on as civilians and rebel fighters are evacuated from Aleppo on Friday, December 16. Evacuations began a day earlier under a new ceasefire between rebels and pro-government forces.

Pro-government forces guard a convoy of buses and ambulances during the evacuation operation on December 16.

Civilians arrive in the opposition-controlled Khan al-Aassal region, to the west of Aleppo, on Thursday, December 15. Most of the civilians from Aleppo will be taken to a rebel-controlled area in the neighboring province of Idlib.

A wounded boy sits inside an ambulance during the evacuations on December 15.

Staff members of the Syrian Red Crescent wait near ambulances as the evacuation operation gets underway on December 15.

Buses line up to transport people away from eastern Aleppo on December 15.

A woman leads family members toward the evacuation buses on December 15.

A woman in a wheelchair waits to board a bus during evacuations on December 15.

A member of the civil defense carries a wounded boy out of a hospital in eastern Aleppo on December 15.

Pro-government forces advance in Aleppo on Wednesday, December 14.

A wounded woman is helped into the bed of a truck on December 14.

Buses wait to evacuate people in Aleppo on December 14.

Pro-government forces advance on December 14.

Pro-government forces walk in the ancient Umayyad Mosque after capturing the area on Tuesday, December 13.

Syrians depart a rebel-controlled area of Aleppo on December 13.

Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighborhood on December 13.

A Syrian child cooks in the street in a rebel-held area of Aleppo on December 13.

Syrian civilians take food from a storage room that was formerly held by the opposition forces in eastern Aleppo's al-Kalasseh neighborhood on December 13.

Pro-government fighters wave from a truck as they pass civilians fleeing the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood on December 13.

A woman reacts as she evacuates the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood with her two children on December 13.

Syrians celebrate in a government-held district of Aleppo on Monday, December 12.

Pro-government forces patrol the al-Saleheen neighborhood in eastern Aleppo on December 12.

Rebels in southeastern Aleppo target government forces with anti-aircraft weaponry on December 12.

Civilians flee the Sukkari neighborhood in southeastern Aleppo on December 12.

Pro-government forces patrol Aleppo's Sheikh Saeed district on December 12 after it was recaptured from rebel forces.

In this handout photo from the International Committee for the Red Cross, women displaced from eastern Aleppo gather at a shelter in the village of Jibreen, south of Aleppo, on December 12.

Smoke rises from the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood on December 12.

Civilians from eastern Aleppo stream into a government checkpoint at the al-Hawoz street roundabout on Saturday, December 10.

Rebel fighters take aim at pro-government positions in Aleppo on Friday, December 9.

Syrian rebels walk down a street in eastern Aleppo on December 9.

Clouds of smoke billow from eastern Aleppo's al-Shaar neighborhood on Monday, December 5.

Battle for Aleppo

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The rebels took over eastern Aleppo in the summer of 2012, managing to stave off the better-equipped Syrian military. They gained popular support in urban areas.

But as pro-government forces ramped up attacks, eastern Aleppo became the wretched epicenter of the civil war. Hundreds of thousands of residents fled the “apocalyptic” violence.

Since the war began, the regime has claimed it has been fighting “terrorists” – its term for rebel fighters. Eventually, the terror group ISIS took advantage of instability wrought by the civil war and took over swaths of Syria.

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There are four main factions of fighting groups across the country, in addition to rebel fighters: Kurdish forces, ISIS, other opposition (such as Jaish al Fateh, an alliance between the Nusra Front and Ahrar-al-Sham) and the Assad regime.

On Thursday, Assad declared a victory not just for Syria but for all those backing his fight, particularly Iran and Russia.

“It is also a relapse for all the countries that are hostile towards the Syrian people and that have used terrorism as a means to realize their interests,” Assad said, according to state news agency SANA.

A staggering humanitarian crisis

The war triggered one of the greatest humanitarian crises since World War II. The United Nations General Assembly voted on Thursday to establish an independent panel to assist in the investigation of possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Syria.

An estimated 400,000 Syrians have been killed and more than 4.8 million have fled the country since the war began in 2011, according to the United Nations.

Those who remained suffered from a lack of the most basic needs – food, water, and health care.

It was a common tactic of the regime, “Starve or Surrender,” one that was used in Homs and then Aleppo.

As the government choked off the supply of food, fuel and other daily necessities, no one was spared: men, women, children, civilians, rebels.

The world saw images of children dying of starvation. Children in hospitals, shell-shocked and covered in blood and debris. People heating plastic from broken chairs and pipes and turning it into fuel.

As shelling and bombardments intensified, people stayed home from school and work to avoid becoming a casualty. Eventually, there was no escape as the airstrikes came to them.

Entire blocks of buildings were reduced to rubble, often with people trapped inside. Homes, hospitals, schools, bakeries.

Jameel Mustafa Habboush, 13, receives oxygen as he is pulled from rubble caused by airstrikes.

Nowhere was the devastation more rampant than Aleppo, once the beating heart of the country. In five years it went from a bustling metropolis of more than 2 million people – about the size of Houston – to a devastated war zone.

Throughout the siege, rebels, aid workers and civilians issued one desperate plea after another through videos and social media. They directed them at foreign governments and leaders, the UN Security Council, the public, asking for humanitarian aid and safe passage.

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Toward the end, they simply asked for signs that anyone was listening.

“Dear world, why are you silent?”

“Don’t look back years from now and wish that you can do something; you can still.”

“Please please please make this ceasefire work and get us out now. We are so tired.”

CNN’s Merieme Arif, Sarah Faidell, Sheena McKenzie, Nick Paton Walsh and Angela Dewan contributed to this report.