Aleppo

Aleppo (Arabic: حلب‎ / ALA-LC: Ḥalab, other names), located in northwestern Syria 310 kilometres (193 miles) from Damascus, is the largest city in Syria and serves as the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,132,100 (2004 census), it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant. For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after İstanbul and Cairo.