BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar Assad ordered Monday immediate repairs to a historic mosque in the city of Aleppo after fierce fighting between rebels and regime forces set parts of the compound 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 in recent days.
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.
Rebels and activists have complained that soldiers and pro-government militiamen wrote offensive graffiti on its walls and drank alcohol inside.
But the regime and the rebels are now trading accusations over who is responsible for the fire at the mosque compound adjacent to Aleppo’s medieval citadel.
Videos posted by activists online show a large fire and black smoke raging inside the mosque Saturday, and later, its blackened, pockmarked walls. Debris is strewn on the floors where worshippers once prayed on green and gold carpeting.
“Assad’s thugs set the mosque on fire as a punishment for being defeated by the Free Syrian Army,” the caption on the video read, referring to the rebels fighting to topple Assad. The government Monday said it pushed back the rebels from the mosque after the weekend fighting, though activists are giving conflicting reports on who controls it.