UNESCO says Assad forces have destroyed a thousand historic mosques

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has released its World Heritage update in which it reveals that the war raging in Syria since 15 March, 2011 has led to the destruction of six historic districts. One thousand mosques have also been destroyed by the government of Bashar Al-Assad despite appeals from experts. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.

According to Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, the war has had a devastating effect on historic mosques, most notably the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo which the regime forces have turned into a safe haven for themselves. “The regime forces flattened the mosque’s minaret which was built in the eighth century and rebuilt in the thirteenth century,” it reported. Artillery and missile attacks by regime forces have also destroyed the Umayyad Mosque’s eastern wall, which contained priceless handwritten copies of the Qur’an.