Saturday, Sep 29, 2012
Dubai Hundreds of shops were reduced to ashes yesterday in the ancient souq of Aleppo’s Old City listed as a Unesco world heritage site as fighting raged between rebels and regime forces in the commercial hub of Syria.
Activists speaking via Skype said army snipers were making it difficult to approach the Souq Al Madinah, the medieval market of vaulted stone alleyways and carved wooden facades that was once a major tourist attraction.
Activists said the fire might have been started by heavy shelling and gunfire on Friday and estimated that 700 to 1,000 shops had been destroyed so far.
Apart from the old city of Aleppo, Unesco believes five of Syria’s six heritage sites - which also include the ancient desert city of Palmyra, the Crac des Chevaliers crusader fortress and parts of old Damascus - have been affected.
Rebels launched on Thursday what they said would be a “decisive battle” to drive Bashar Al Assad’s forces out of Aleppo and fighting has since spread to wide swaths of the city. At least 41 people were killed in Syria yesterday, including 23 in Damascus and its suburbs and five in Aleppo, according to the Local Coordination Committees in Syria. Government forces stormed several suburbs of Damascus, and pressed their attacks on other areas of the country.
Gulf News Report
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