Turkey earthquake damages ancient citadel in Syria’s Aleppo

Damascus:

Several Syrian archaeological sites, including a famous citadel in the northern city of Aleppo, were damaged in Monday’s devastating earthquake, the country’s antiquities authority said.

Syria’s Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums said in a statement that “portions of the Ottoman mill inside Aleppo’s citadel” have collapsed, while “portions of the northeastern defensive walls have crumbled”.

Parts of the dome of the minaret of the Ayyubid mosque inside the citadel have collapsed, while the entrance to the fort has been damaged, “including the entrance to the Mamluk tower”, it published photos of the site on its Facebook page.

State media and rescuers said more than 850 people were killed as buildings collapsed across Syria after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck neighboring Turkey.

At least 156 people were killed and 507 injured in the collapse of 46 buildings in Aleppo province alone, the official SANA news agency quoted an official as saying.

The city of Aleppo is famous for its ancient citadel, its UNESCO-listed historic center and centuries-old covered markets.

Aleppo was Syria’s pre-war commercial center and was considered one of the world’s longest continuously inhabited cities, boasting markets, mosques, caravanserai and public baths, but a brutal siege imposed on the rebels distorted it.

Even before the earthquake, buildings in Aleppo often collapsed due to poor infrastructure after more than a decade of war and little monitoring to ensure the safety of new construction projects.

In Hama province, archaeological surveys found that “some buildings inside the ancient al-Marqab palace” in the city of Baniyas were damaged, while parts of the fortifications and a minaret had collapsed, the antiquities body said.

Part of a rocky cliff near Qadamus Castle in Tartus province collapsed and residential buildings at the site collapsed.

Expert teams were reportedly assessing the damage, and whether the quake had affected the ancient city of Palmyra.

The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred near Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey at a depth of about 18 kilometers (11 miles).

AFP correspondents said tremors were also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus.

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