After six years of continued conflict, Aleppo's center is deserted while the city's east, which fell into the opposition's hands in 2012 and was retaken by regime forces in late-2016, is left in ruins. This study argues that the destruction of Aleppo represents more than the outcome of a military confrontation between rival military forces. Instead, it understands Aleppo's destruction as an integral part of the process of Damascus securing its hold and acquiring leverage over what used to be the country's largest city and industrial center before the conflict. As the pre-war economic, social and political order has dissolved, a new one is emerging. In this new surfacing order, Aleppo's reconstruction is likely to be filtered through new regime-affiliated and -dependent business figures, which will diminish Aleppo's political weight vis-à-vis the capital and provide the regime with an important leverage to reassert control over highly contested northern Syria.