Five pieces of history lost in the Syrian Civil War

Before and after photos show a view of the Ummayad Mosque in Aleppo, Syria. The Mosque’s 1,000 year-old minaret was toppled during battles this year. Photo by Getty Images

As the civil war in Syria rages on, the country itself is being destroyed.
Part of the collateral damage of the conflict are historically significant architectural sites, reports PolicyMic. In August, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization called on both sides of the conflict to protect Syria’s cultural heritage. Despite international attention, countless historical sites have been catastrophically damaged. The Wall Street Journal has a photo essay of sites that have taken damage.

The Ummayad Mosque, one of the oldest and most significant mosques in the world, had its thousand-year-old minaret toppled earlier this year. The Souk Al-Madina in Aleppo, which was once the largest covered historic market in the world, was nearly destroyed in September 2012. The Al-Omari mosque, named after its founder, the second caliph of Islam, served as a hospital for demonstrators and had its minaret destroyed this year. Crac de Chevaliers is a medieval castle that suffered a wave a bombing that will most likely continue. And Palmyra, a site of ancient ruins in the middle of the desert, has been torn apart by rockets and bombings.