The Arab Democrat The Latest From The Arab World
Related Articles
On Thursday, a luxury hotel converted into an army base was blown up by Syrian rebels in the heart of Aleppo after they tunneled under the front lines which divide the city.
State television has not confirmed if the attack on the famous Carlton Citadel Hotel, right across the road from the UNESCO-listed citadel in the city, had resulted in any casualties. The hotel, which had opened in a renovated 19th century hospital right before the March 2011 uprising, was completely destroyed in the explosion, it reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that the blast resulted in the deaths of 14 pro-regime militiamen and military troops.
“The explosion that was heard in Aleppo’s Old City was caused by explosives planted by Islamist battalions in a tunnel beneath the Carlton hotel, which was occupied by regime troops”, the monitoring group said. According to its Director Rami Abdel Rahman, “Fourteen troops and pro-regime militiamen were killed in the explosion, and in fighting that broke out nearby immediately afterwards”.
According to reports, The Islamic Front had carried out the attack on the hotel. A video posted on the twitter account of the Islamic Front, the biggest rebel group in Syria, shows a massive cloud of smoke, with dust surging into the sky after the enormous explosion. According to a state television broadcast, “Terrorists targeted the historic Carlton hotel in the Old City with a big explosion, destroying it completely and destroying several historic buildings nearby”.
This was not the first rebel attempt to blow up the hotel; a similar attack was attempted in February, but no major damage was inflicted on the building. In July 2012, a rebel offensive in Aleppo left the Citadel and all hotels nearby, once thronged with tourists, on the firing line of the lethal conflict.
