Rebuilding shattered Aleppo will take billions

Fighting has ended in Aleppo, and now talk is beginning to turn to the question of how to rebuild Syria's largest city, where entire blocks have been smashed to rubble in scenes reminiscent of World War II devastation. The task will take tens of billions of dollars.

But hopes for rebuilding collide with daunting realities.

Without a comprehensive peace deal to Syria's civil war, Western nations are unlikely to give funds to the Syrian government, which remains under US, European, and Arab sanctions that bar aid. Even Syria's allies, Russia and Iran, show little enthusiasm to shoulder rebuilding costs.