The minaret of a landmark 12th century mosque in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo was destroyed yesterday, leaving the once-soaring stone tower a pile of rubble and twisted metal scattered in the tiled courtyard.
President Bashar Assad’s regime is being blamed for the destruction to the Umayyad Mosque, which occurred in the heart Aleppo’s walled Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It was the second time in just over a week that a historic Sunni mosque in Syria has been seriously damaged.
An amateur video posted online by the Aleppo Media Center activist group showed the mosque’s archways, charred from earlier fighting, and a pile of rubble where the minaret used to be.
Standing inside the mosque’s courtyard, a man says regime forces recently fired seven shells at the minaret but failed to knock it down.
According to The Associated Press, he said the tank rounds struck their target yesterday. “We were standing here today and suddenly shells started hitting the minaret,” the man says. “They (the army) then tried to storm the mosque but we pushed them back.”
Five of Syria’s six World Heritage sites have been damaged in the fighting, according to UNESCO, the UN’s cultural agency.
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Umayyad Mosque’s minaret destroyed
Umayyad Mosque’s minaret destroyed
Turkiye intercepts uncontrolled drone over Black sea
ANKARA: Turkiye shot down an uncontrolled drone approaching its airspace over the Black Sea, the defense ministry said.
The incident follows Turkiye’s warning last week of Black Sea escalation after Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports that damaged three Turkish-owned cargo vessels.
In a statement, the ministry said Turkish and NATO F-16 jets were put on alert to ensure the security of Turkish airspace after the detection of the drone.
It was determined that the drone was out of control and it was shot down in a safe area, the ministry added in Monday’s statement, but did not elaborate on its type or origin.
The attacks on Ukrainian ports came days after Moscow threatened to “cut Ukraine off from the sea” following Kyiv’s attacks that damaged three ‘shadow fleet’ tankers heading to Russia to export its oil in the Black Sea.
The incident follows Turkiye’s warning last week of Black Sea escalation after Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports that damaged three Turkish-owned cargo vessels.
In a statement, the ministry said Turkish and NATO F-16 jets were put on alert to ensure the security of Turkish airspace after the detection of the drone.
It was determined that the drone was out of control and it was shot down in a safe area, the ministry added in Monday’s statement, but did not elaborate on its type or origin.
The attacks on Ukrainian ports came days after Moscow threatened to “cut Ukraine off from the sea” following Kyiv’s attacks that damaged three ‘shadow fleet’ tankers heading to Russia to export its oil in the Black Sea.
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