Blast tears through Aleppo's medieval citadel

The 13th-century fortress that is part of Aleppo's UNESCO-listed old city was badly damaged on Sunday after a bomb exploded in a tunnel near the Aleppo Citadel, according to both Syrian state media and the watchdog Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

"A powerful explosion was heard after midnight Saturday," said SOHR chief Rami Abdel Rahman, adding that "the blast caused the collapse of part of the wall of the citadel."

Rahman said it was difficult to determine who was responsible for the destruction, but that it was immediately followed by clashes between the government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups who are fighting for control of the northern party of the city.

The SANA state news agency blamed "terrorists," as it calls all rebel groups, for the attack. Rebel fighters in Aleppo have been known to set off bombs in tunnels they dig beneath military targets.

For the past three years, the city of Aleppo has been divided by the government-controlled sector n the west and the rebel-held one in the east. As Syria's second-largest city, Aleppo, one of the longest-inhabited metropoles in human history, had a pre-war reputation as the county's commercial hub dating all the way back to its medieval place of importance at the end of the Silk Road.

The Citadel of Aleppo contains the remains of mosques, a palace, and bath houses, and as part of the Ancient City of Aleppo, has been a UNESCO-listed world heritage site since 1986.

The city has seen a renewed surge of violence since the rebels launched a major offensive in the first week of July in an attempt to wrest territory on the western outskirts of the city from government hands.

Bashar al-Assad's regime has since 2011 been locked in conflict with various rebel groups, which range from the moderate fighters who seek his ouster and free elections, to the al-Qaeda breakaway jihadist "Islamist State" (IS) group, which is trying to completely redraw the map in the region and establish its own self-proclaimed "caliphate."

Syria's civil war has resulted in some 230,000 deaths and turned more than 4 million people into refugees on top of devastating the country's economy, infrastructure, and many heritage sites.

es/sms (AFP, Reuters)