The fragrance of laurel seed oil wafts through the Alepia soap factory in Santeny, 30kms south-east of Paris. In the laboratory Hassan Harastani, wearing white overalls, pours the hot dark green gel ...

After years of war, the scent of laurel oil once again wafts from a small soap workshop in Aleppo, signalling the revival of a landmark trade in the battered northern city. Surrounding soap workshops ...

Adelle Tarzibachi began importing soap from her native city of Aleppo in 2009. Said to be the oldest soap in the world, favoured by the likes of Queen Cleopatra and Queen Zenobia, though these things ...

Aleppo soap – widely considered to be the first soap ever made – is popular across the Middle East and far beyond. But the intense fighting is making business in Syria’s second city all but impossible ...

A collateral victim of the Syrian war, Aleppo soap has found a sanctuary far from the ruined city whose elegant souks, many now reduced to rubble, have made the coveted green bars for centuries. In an ...

The UN's cultural organisation added Aleppo's famous soap to its intangible cultural heritage list Tuesday with Syria's second city again wracked by war. Artisans have brewed olive and laurel oil in ...

After years of war, the scent of laurel oil once again wafts from a small soap workshop in Aleppo, signalling the revival of a landmark trade in the battered northern city. Surrounding soap workshops ...