Aleppo (/lpo/; Arabic: / ALA-LC: alab, IPA: [alab]) is a city in Syria, serving as the

capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate.[5] For centuries,
Aleppo was the Syrian region's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third-largest, after
Constantinople and Cairo.[6][7][8] With an official population of 2,132,100 (2004 census), it was
Syria's largest city and also one of the largest cities in the Levant before the advent of the Syrian
Civil War.[9][10][11]
Aleppo is an ancient metropolis, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world;
it may have been inhabited since the 6th millennium BC.[12] Excavations at Tell as-Sawda and
Tell al-Ansari, just south of the old city of Aleppo, show that the area was occupied by Amorites
since at least the latter part of the 3rd millennium BC;[13] and this is also when Aleppo is first
mentioned in cuneiform tablets unearthed in Ebla and Mesopotamia, in which it is a part of the
Amorite state of Yamhad, and noted for its commercial and military proficiency.[14] Such a long
history is attributed to its strategic location as a trading center midway between the
Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia (i.e. modern Iraq).
The city's significance in history has been its location at one end of the Silk Road, which passed
through central Asia and Mesopotamia. When the Suez Canal was inaugurated in 1869, trade was
diverted to sea and Aleppo began its slow decline. At the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World
War I, Aleppo ceded its northern hinterland to modern Turkey, as well as the important railway
connecting it to Mosul. In the 1940s, it lost its main access to the sea, Antioch and Alexandretta,
also to Turkey. Finally, the isolation of Syria in the past few decades further exacerbated the
situation. This decline may have helped to preserve the old city of Aleppo, its medieval
architecture and traditional heritage. It won the title of the "Islamic Capital of Culture 2006", and
has had a wave of successful restorations of its historic landmarks.
Since the Battle of Aleppo started in 2012, the city has suffered massive destruction,[15] and has
been the worst-hit city in the Syrian Civil War.[16] Recently, government forces have retaken the
rebel portion of the city, thus completing their full reclamation of Aleppo.

Contents
The Battle of Aleppo (Arabic: ) was a major military confrontation in Aleppo, the
largest city in Syria, between the Syrian opposition (including the Free Syrian Army and Sunni
fighters, such as the Levant Front and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front),[81] against the
government of Bashar al-Assad, supported by Hezbollah, Shiite militias and Russia,[58][82] and
against the Kurdish People's Protection Units. The battle began on 19 July 2012 and is part of the
ongoing Syrian Civil War.[83] A stalemate that had been in place for four years finally ended in
July 2016, when Syrian government troops closed the rebels' last supply line into Aleppo with
the support of Russian airstrikes. In response, rebel forces launched unsuccessful
counteroffensives in September and October that failed to break the siege; in November,
government forces embarked on a decisive campaign that resulted in the recapture of all of

Aleppo by December 2016.[84] The Syrian government victory was widely seen as a potential
turning point in Syria's civil war.[85][86]
The large scale devastation of the battle and its importance led combatants to name it the "mother
of battles"[87] or "Syria's Stalingrad".[88] It was marked by widespread violence against civilians,
[89]
repeated targeting of hospitals and schools,[90][91] and indiscriminate aerial strikes and shelling
against civilian areas.[82][92][93][94] Hundreds of thousands of residents were displaced by the
fighting and efforts to provide aid to civilians or facilitate evacuation were routinely disrupted by
continued combat and mistrust between the opposing sides.[95][96]
Various claims of war crimes emerged during the battle, including the extensive use of barrel
bombs by the Syrian Air Force,[97][98] accusations that Russian and Syrian forces conducted
"double tap" airstrikes to target rescue workers and first responders to previous strikes[99] and the
use of makeshift hell cannons by rebel forces.[100] During the 2016 Syrian government offensive,
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that "crimes of historic proportions" were
being committed in Aleppo.[101] Fighting also caused severe destruction to the Old City of
Aleppo, a UNESCO World Heritage site.[102] After four years of fighting, the battle represents one
of the longest sieges in modern warfare and one of the bloodiest battles of the Syrian Civil War,
leaving an estimated 31,000 people dead,[79] almost a tenth of estimated overall war casualties.[103]
The Battle of Aleppo (Arabic: ) was a major military confrontation in Aleppo, the
largest city in Syria, between the Syrian opposition (including the Free Syrian Army and Sunni
fighters, such as the Levant Front and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front),[81] against the
government of Bashar al-Assad, supported by Hezbollah, Shiite militias and Russia,[58][82] and
against the Kurdish People's Protection Units. The battle began on 19 July 2012 and is part of the
ongoing Syrian Civil War.[83] A stalemate that had been in place for four years finally ended in
July 2016, when Syrian government troops closed the rebels' last supply line into Aleppo with
the support of Russian airstrikes. In response, rebel forces launched unsuccessful
counteroffensives in September and October that failed to break the siege; in November,
government forces embarked on a decisive campaign that resulted in the recapture of all of
Aleppo by December 2016.[84] The Syrian government victory was widely seen as a potential
turning point in Syria's civil war.[85][86]
The large scale devastation of the battle and its importance led combatants to name it the "mother
of battles"[87] or "Syria's Stalingrad".[88] It was marked by widespread violence against civilians,
[89]
repeated targeting of hospitals and schools,[90][91] and indiscriminate aerial strikes and shelling
against civilian areas.[82][92][93][94] Hundreds of thousands of residents were displaced by the
fighting and efforts to provide aid to civilians or facilitate evacuation were routinely disrupted by
continued combat and mistrust between the opposing sides.[95][96]

Various claims of war crimes emerged during the battle, including the extensive use of barrel
bombs by the Syrian Air Force,[97][98] accusations that Russian and Syrian forces conducted
"double tap" airstrikes to target rescue workers and first responders to previous strikes[99] and the
use of makeshift hell cannons by rebel forces.[100] During the 2016 Syrian government offensive,
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that "crimes of historic proportions" were
being committed in Aleppo.[101] Fighting also caused severe destruction to the Old City of
Aleppo, a UNESCO World Heritage site.[102] After four years of fighting, the battle represents one
of the longest sieges in modern warfare and one of the bloodiest battles of the Syrian Civil War,
]leaving an estimated 31,000 people dead,[79] almost a tenth of estimated overall war casualties.[103
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