what is aleppo?

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Earlier today, the Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson was asked by journalist Mike Barnicle “What would you do, if you were elected, about Aleppo?”

Johnson  replied with his own question: "What is Aleppo?" Aleppo is Syria's largest city, an urban battlefield in the brutal Syrian Civil War since 2012. Reporters and photojournalists have been covering the conflict for years, documenting the belligerents as well as the tragic circumstances of those civilians caught up in the multifaceted war.

When Barnicle asked “What would you do about Aleppo?” he was asking what would the candidate do to stop the horrors.

A Syrian man cries as he holds the lifeless body of his son, killed by the Syrian Army, in Aleppo, Syria, on October 3, 2013.

Residents run from a fire at a gasoline and oil shop in Aleppo's Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhood October 20, 2013.

A still image taken on August 18, 2016 from a video posted on social media said to be shot in Aleppo on August 17, 2016, shows a boy with bloodied face sitting in an ambulance, after an airstrike, Syria.

A Syrian Air Force fighter jet launches missiles at El Edaa district in Syria's northwestern city of Aleppo on September 1, 2012.

Smoke billows following the detonation of explosives placed by Syrian government forces in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on May 19, 2015. 

The bodies of two Syrian children lie in the rubble after an explosives-filled barrel dropped by a government forces helicopter on March 18, 2014. 

A damaged street with sandbags used as barriers in Aleppo's Saif al-Dawla district on March 6, 2015. 

A wounded woman still in shock leaves Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria, on September 20, 2012. 

Workers document and count dead bodies, which according to the rebel fighters, were members of forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, before burying them in Aleppo on February 23, 2015. 

Debris cover a street and flames rise from a building following a reported air strike by Syrian government forces on March 7, 2014 during the Friday prayer in the Sukkari neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo.

The body of a 7 year old boy killed by a Syrian Army sniper lies in Dar Al Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria, on September 20, 2012. 

People inspect damage from barrel bombs dropped by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo's district of al-Sukari on March 7, 2014. 

A child survivor is seen at a hospital, after a barrel bomb was dropped at Aleppo's Haydariye district on March 9, 2014.

Upright buses barricading a street, which serve as protection from snipers loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, on March 21, 2015.

A fighter with the Free Syria Army (FSA) fires his weapon during heavy clashes with government forces in Aleppo on September 9, 2012. 

A helicopter loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad throws what activists say is an explosive barrel, in Al-Shaar area in Aleppo on February 1, 2014. 

Smoke billows following air strikes by regime forces on rebel positions during intense fighting in Aleppo on August 18, 2016.

A Syrian man carries the body of a girl after she was trapped under the rubble following reported air strikes on the rebel-held neighborhood of al-Mashhad in the northern city of Aleppo, on July 25, 2016. 

Girls who survived a missile attack by forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, hold hands at Aleppo's Bab al-Hadeed district on April 7, 2015.

Syrians walk past heavily damaged buildings in Aleppo's northern outskirts on July 29, 2016, as people come back to the previously rebel-held district, a day after Syrian government forces took control of it. 

Bloodied bodies lie strewn on a street after Syrian regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on Aleppo on June 16, 2014, killing at least 20 people, including several children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 

A Syrian boy suffering from breathing difficulties is treated at a make-shift hospital in Aleppo after regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the rebel-held Sukkari neighborhood of the northern Syrian city on September 6, 2016.