(CHI): Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria and Iraq1
ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives (CHI): Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria and Iraq1 NEA-PSHSS-14-001 Weekly Report 105–106 — August 3 - 18, 2016 Michael D. Danti, Allison Cuneo, Susan Penacho, Amr Al-Azm, Bijan Rouhani, Marina Gabriel, Kyra Kaercher, Jamie O’Connell Executive Summary During the reporting period, the northern wall of the Aleppo Citadel was struck and severely damaged, and airstrikes also hit a cultural center and mosque in the city. Fighting in Aleppo escalated following Eid al-Fitr, resulting in heightened suffering for the city’s trapped inhabitants and significant damage to the Old City of Aleppo and the Aleppo Citadel. Armed opposition groups detonated multiple tunnel bombs in the area, and Syrian Regime and Russian forces have responded with airstrikes. Nearly all factions in the conflict have poured reinforcements into the embattled city — the regime and the opposition view control of Aleppo as crucial to military success. As the conflict in Aleppo intensifies, undoubtedly more damage will be inflicted upon the city’s already fragile and threatened critical services, infrastructure, and cultural heritage. Airstrikes and artillery bombardments on hospitals, schools, residential areas, and houses of worship are daily occurrences. Critical shortages of water, food, and medical supplies/treatment threaten hundreds of thousands of civilians, with no end in sight, and vast swathes of the city lie in ruin. The situation throughout the rest of Syria is equally worrying. Fighting has damaged active places of worship across the country, including mosques in Hreitan, Adnan, Daraya, Teir Ma’ala, as well as a church in Idlib.
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