It was 'one of the most beautiful cities in the world.' That Aleppo is gone, but its residents remember

Aleppo al Shabaa, Aleppo the White. That was the nickname its people bestowed upon it, a nod to the brightness of the marble used in the buildings of this once proud metropolis.

For at least 5,000 years, it has been a jewel in the crown of empires, a place that drew poets and polymaths, industrialists...