Islamic terrorists captured Aleppo late this week after mounting a rapid offensive that caught the Syrian regime off guard.

The Wall Street Journal reported that it had taken Syria and its allies — Iran, Russia, and the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah — more than four years to force the terrorists out of Aleppo in 2016.

Terrorists recaptured the city in “just a few days, including parts of the city that the Syrian army had never surrendered before,” the report said.

“The Assad regime’s ongoing refusal to engage in the political process outlined in UNSCR 2254, and its reliance on Russia and Iran, created the conditions now unfolding, including the collapse of Assad regime lines in northwest Syria,” the White House said in a statement. “At the same time, the United States has nothing to do with this offensive, which is led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a designated terrorist organization.”

“The United States, together with its partners and allies, urge de-escalation, protection of civilians and minority groups, and a serious and credible political process that can end this civil war once and for all with a political settlement consistent with UNSCR 2254,” the statement added. “We will also continue to fully defend and protect U.S. personnel and U.S. military positions, which remain essential to ensuring that ISIS can never again resurge in Syria.”

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The stunning collapse of Aleppo is a direct result of wars that have broken out to the north and south of Syria.

To the north, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has drained Russia’s resources in the region and Hamas’ attack on Israel has spurred a multi-front war in the Middle East.

Israel has hit Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Lebanon and Syria, significantly damaging its forces in the region. Israel has also decimated Hezbollah, having killed nearly all of the terrorist group’s leaders and senior commanders, and wiped out its stockpile of missiles, rockets, and drones.

“Hezbollah is crippled,” said Navvar Şaban, a researcher on Syria at the Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies. “This has created a huge vacuum. Though there were regime forces located in Aleppo, they were not trained, they lacked military discipline, they lacked tactics and even their retreat plan was a disaster.”