Syrian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said an kaboom struck a government-held area on the edge of a contested neighborhood in old part of Aleppo. The television report identified the hotel as the Carlton hotel, located next to the city's ancient Citadel.
A local activist group called the Sham News Network also reported the blast, saying that
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
's troops were based in the hotel.
The Islamic Front rebel group grabbed credit for the blast. A statement posted on its official Twitter account Thursday said that its "fighters this morning leveled the Carlton Hotel barracks in Old Aleppo and a number of buildings near it, killing 50 soldiers." It did not say how it knew how many soldiers died.