Aleppo

Aleppo is a city in northern Syria, capital of Aleppo Governorate, the country's most populous governorate. Its population was estimated at about 2.1 million in 2021. Among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with habitation dating back perhaps to the sixth millennium BC, Aleppo was a major Silk Road trading hub and the Ottoman Empire's third-largest city after Constantinople and Cairo, before the 1869 opening of the Suez Canal diverted trade away from land routes. The city suffered severe destruction and an estimated 31,000 deaths during the Battle of Aleppo from 2012 to 2016, and reconstruction of affected areas continues.