'And what is Aleppo?' US presidential hopeful makes TV gaffe

It is perhaps a foreign affairs gaffe big enough to top the best from Sarah Palin and Donald Trump.

In an embarassing interview on Thursday, Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate in the 2016 US presidential race, was questioned about a major flashpoint of the Syrian civil war and asked, "What is Aleppo?"

The gaffe came during an MSNBC interview about the Syrian crisis and the ongoing battle in that country's biggest city, Aleppo, which has been divided for years into government and rebel sectors.

"What would you do, if you were elected, about Aleppo," Johnson was asked.

"About Aleppo. And what is Aleppo?" he responded.

"You're kidding?" the MSNBC interviewer said.

"No," Johnson said.

"Aleppo is in Syria... It's the epicentre of the refugee crisis," the interviewer said.

"Okay, got it. Got it," Johnson said.

After the clarification, the candidate offered that "with regard to Syria, I do think it's a mess".

He added: "I think that the only way that we deal with Syria is to join hands with Russia to diplomatically bring that at an end."

In a later statement, Johnson said the mistake showed he was human and that, when asked about Aleppo, he was thinking of an acronym and not the Syrian conflict.

"Can I name every city in Syria? No. Should I have identified Aleppo? Yes. Do I understand its significance? Yes," he said.

The hashtag #WhatIsAleppo quickly became popular on Twitter, as people weighed in with sarcasm and disbelief.

"You hear that? That's the sound of Gary Johnson's campaign coming to a crashing halt," one user posted.

Another speculated that Aleppo "was one of the Marx Brothers, right?"

Some posted pictures of the devastation in Syria with statements such as "This is Aleppo."

The embarrassing exchange followed a forum on Wednesday night in which Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Trump tried to showcase their national security and defence credentials.

Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, has been trying to turn the two major candidates' negative approval ratings to his advantage in the race to win the November election.

The Libertarian Party promotes civil liberties and a small-government agenda. In his campaign, Johnson has pledged to cut spending, stick to conservative fiscal policies and legalise cannabis.

A current average of opinion polls by website RealClearPolitics shows that in a four-way matchup featuring Clinton, Trump, Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Johnson has 8.6 percent support.