Free Republic

For nearly 1,000 years the minaret of the Great Mosque of Aleppo soared above Syria's largest city. But it now lies in ruins - one of the many victims of Syria's civil war. The minaret of Aleppo's Great Mosque was unusual - unlike traditional cylindrical minarets, it was square in cross-section. At 45m high, its pinkish-beige stone, wrapped in intricate Arabic inscriptions, stood out on the city's skyline. It tells the story of Aleppo - or Halab as it's called in Arabic - one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The mosque was said to hold the...

The 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue in the Syrian capital of Damascus was looted and burned to the ground. The Syrian army loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebel forces are blaming each other for the destruction of the historic synagogue ... The Jobar synagogue was built atop a cave that, according to tradition, was used by the prophet Elijah to conceal himself from prosecution. The synagogue is said to have been built by Elijah's successor, the prophet Elisha, and repaired during the first century by Eleazar ben Arach.