From stalemate to slaughter: On the front lines of the battle for Aleppo
Aleppo, Syria (CNN)Years of combat have turned Aleppo's old town into a neighborhood of rubble and dust.
What's left of this once-beguiling maze of narrow alleys and covered souks is a reminder of its tragic location at the heart of Syria's five-year civil war.
The city's once-famous Khan al-Wazir inn lies completely burned out; as we walked through one of its halls, eerie beams of light shone in through the broken windows.
On the streets nearby, we glimpsed movement inside buildings that looked, at first glance, to be nothing more than abandoned ruins, revealing that people are still living amid the wreckage.
Aleppo is on the demarcation line between the military forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and opposition fighters who have been struggling for years to take his government down.
We had a rare opportunity to reach Aleppo and were accompanied by Syrian troops, giving us a chance to hear directly from a commander on the ground.
His view was that Assad's troops believe they are on the verge of a decisive victory.
He said they are dealing a crushing blow to the opposition -- one that could drastically alter the momentum of this protracted conflict.
Commander: Regime morale high
The commander loyal to Assad told us he can't remember a time when morale has been better. He asked that CNN not use his real name, but instead call him Abu Mohammed.
"Things have changed drastically," he said. "The insurgents are running away to Turkey. Running from the wrath of the Syrians and our allied troops."
The opposition rebels say they are simply being slaughtered by the Russian air force, Iranian militias and the Syrian military.
Russian firepower
Assad's forces are grateful for the assistance they say has turned the course of the war in their favor: Russian air power.
The Russian military has been helping Assad's forces, going after a coalition of rebels in the eastern part of the city.
"It is only a matter of months till we win, thanks to the Russian support with their airstrikes flown from the Syrian airfield, which will defeat the rebels once and for all," Abu Mohammed said.
The roar of planes overhead is loud and constant. Rattling thuds shake the ground -- the sounds of bombs exploding nearby.
"The rebels are only a few yards away," a sniper told us, explaining that the Syrian military continues to engage in close-quarter firefights with the rebels.
"They often try to sneak up on us but we detect them and they fail."