Hopefully, when this battle is over, many Syrian families can rebuild their lives in a peaceful Aleppo. I've never understood the American support for Sunni rebel groups, many of which want to annihilate the minorities like Christians, Shias, Druze and Alawites. Although Assad is no boy scout, at least he protected the minorities and Sunnis alike. He is Alawite .... a small sect of islam which the rebels want destroyed. He knows he needs ALL the minorities to counter the 74% who are Sunni. This why Shia militias from Iraq and Iran and other minorities support the government. His victory might well be that best of a bunch of bad possibilities.