The UN's cultural organization 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 large pots for some 3,000 years in the city allowing the mixture to cool before cutting it into blocks, and stamping them by hand, AFP reported.
Aleppo soap joins the city's traditional music, Al-Qudoud al-Halabiya, on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage, while the city itself -- declared a world heritage site in 1986 -- was added to the organization's endangered list in 2013 amid the country's civil war.
Aleppo had been slowly recovering from the wounds inflicted by more than a decade of civil war when armed opposition groups captured the city last week in a shock offensive that put forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to flight.
Of the 100 soap factories in the city only about 10 remain, with many having relocated to Damascus or neighboring Türkiye.
But the soap remains essential to the families and communities involved in the trade.
"The collaborative production process promotes community and family unity," said UNESCO.
