Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
ordered on Monday immediate repairs to a historic mosque in the city of Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
, a move likely aimed at containing Moslem outrage after fierce fighting between rebels and regime forces set parts of the mosque on fire over the weekend.
Government troops had been holed up inside the 12th century Umayyad mosque, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in downtown Aleppo for several months before rebels fighting to topple Assad launched a push to liberate it this week.
Activist Mohammad al-Hassan said the army had been using the mosque as a base because of its strategic location in the center of the old city of Aleppo.
"It's all blackened now," he said of the mosque, speaking by phone from Aleppo