Syria conflict: Huge blast 'destroys Aleppo hotel' Skip to main content

Syria conflict: Huge blast 'destroys Aleppo hotel'

Syria conflict: Huge blast 'destroys Aleppo hotel'
The BBC's Paul Wood says the attack shows how fiercely contested Aleppo remains
A large explosion in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has destroyed a hotel and several other buildings, state media and activists report.

Rebel fighters are believed to have detonated a bomb placed in a tunnel beneath the Carlton Citadel Hotel, near the city's medieval citadel and souk.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government troops had been based there and at least 14 died.

Both sides have been trying to end a long-standing stalemate in the city.

In recent weeks, rebels have been trying to advance on areas where government forces are entrenched, while rebel-held areas of Aleppo have come under fierce aerial bombardment since mid-December.

'Archaeological sites'
 
The state news agency, Sana, reported that "terrorists" had blown up tunnels they had dug underneath archaeological sites in the Old City.
Government forces search for survivors in the remains of a hotel in Aleppo's Old City destroyed by an explosion on 8 May 2014 The explosion struck the Carlton Citadel Hotel in the Old City, next to Aleppo's medieval citadel
Damaged buildings near the hotel destroyed by an explosion in Aleppo's Old City on 8 May 2014 The building was levelled in the blast and nearby buildings damaged
A video from the Islamic Front purportedly showed a rebel fighter inside a tunnel underneath the frontline in Aleppo (8 May 2014) A video from the Islamic Front purportedly showed a rebel inside a tunnel beneath the front line
 
Preliminary reports said the hotel had suffered "huge damage", it added, without saying if there had been any casualties.

The Carlton Citadel is situated inside a 150-year-old building that faces the entrance of the 13th-Century citadel, which along with the rest of the Old City is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the opposition Shaam News Network (SNN) said it was being used by government forces.

The remote detonation of a large quantity of explosives placed in the tunnel by the Islamic Front had destroyed the hotel and caused the collapse of several nearby buildings, the Observatory said.

A number of security forces personnel and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were believed to have been killed, it added.
Map showing site of Carlton Citadel Hotel in Aleppo
Photographs and video published online purported to show the moment of the blast, with a cloud of smoke rising from the scene.

A statement from the Islamic Front said its fighters had "levelled 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.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Beirut says the attack shows how fiercely contested the city of Aleppo remains.

The front lines have moved little in more than two years of fighting, though it seems the rebels have made a few incremental gains in recent months.

Our correspondent says that is significant. Government forces are doing well in Damascus and have just assumed control of the central city of Homs, but in the north of the country they seem to be under serious pressure and the military stalemate seems as durable as ever, he adds.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27323790

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chronology of the Press in Burma

1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern  Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period.     March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper,  The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s  Hsa-tu-gaw  (the  Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of  Sgaw ,  is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian  Dhamma  Thadinsa  (the  Religious Herald ), in Moulmein. Supposedly the first Burmese-language newspaper, it continued up until the first year of the second Angl

ARSA claims ambush on Myanmar security forces

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Sunday claimed responsibility for an ambush on Myanmar security forces that left several wounded in northern Rakhine state, the first attack in weeks in a region gutted by violence. Rakhine was plunged into turmoil last August, when a series of ARSA raids prompted a military backlash so brutal the UN says it likely amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority. The army campaign sent some 650,000 Rohingya fleeing for Bangladesh, where refugees have given harrowing accounts of rape, murder and arson at the hands of security forces and vigilantes. Myanmar's military, which tightly controls information about Rakhine, denies any abuses and insists the crackdown was a proportionate response to crush the "terrorist" threat. ARSA have launched few attacks in recent months.  But the army reported that "about ten" Rohingya terrorists ambushed a car with hand-made mines and gunfire on Friday morning

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do