Excerpts of a 2016 interview with historian Philip Mansel, author of Aleppo: the Rise and Fall of Syria’s Great Merchant City. Dr Mansel describes Aleppo’s colourful history, its trading  position, and the vulnerability of cosmopolitan cities, both in the  Middle East and elsewhere. (Courtesy:  B Hadrian)   Philip Mansel is a historian of France and the … Continue reading →