[Al Ahram] The minaret of Aleppo's ancient Umayyad mosque was destroyed on Wednesday, Syrian state media and a watchdog reported, with the regime and the opposition blaming each other.An archaeological treasure in Aleppo's UNESCO-listed Old City, the mosque has been the centre of fighting for months and had already suffered extensive damage.
With beturbanned goons and the regime caught in a stalemate in the key northern city, the ancient mosque has fallen in and out of rebel hands several times.
The Umayyad mosque was originally built in the 8th century but was apparently destroyed and then rebuilt in the 13th century.
It has recently fallen back into rebel hands, but has been left pockmarked by bullets and stained with soot.
Antique furnishings and intricately sculpted colonnades have been charred, valuable Islamic relics ransacked and ancient artefacts -- including a box purported to contain a strand of the Prophet Mohammed's hair -- looted.
Rebels say they have managed to salvage ancient handwritten Koranic manuscripts and have hidden them.
On Wednesday, as reports broke of the minaret's destruction, activists uploaded video shot at the scene, but there was no video immediately available showing the moment of the blast that caused the collapse.