Fighting in Aleppo starts fire in medieval souks

Syrian rebels and residents of Aleppo struggled Saturday to contain a huge fire that destroyed parts of the city's medieval souks, or markets, following raging battles between government troops and opposition fighters there, activists said.                       

Some described the overnight blaze as the worst blow yet to a historic district that helped make the heart of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and commercial hub, a UNESCO world heritage site.                       

Amateur footage posted online by activists showed raging orange flames licking the wooden doors of shops as the wood crackled, and rebels using a small water hose as they struggled to put out the fire. Other videos showed a pall of smoke hanging over the city's skyline.                      

The fire started late Friday amid heavy government shelling and was still burning Saturday morning, activists said.                                   

The souks of Aleppo a maze of vaulted passageways with shops that sell everything from foods, fabrics, perfumes, spices and artisan souvenirs are a tactical prize for the combatants.                

The Aleppo souks are not the only Syrian cultural treasures to have fallen victim to the chaos of the country's uprising and the crackdown by the Assad regime.  

Fighting continued in many parts of Aleppo Saturday and activists said at least three people were killed, including two rebel fighters.                  

Syria's state-run news agency SANA said soldiers were pursuing military operations against armed groups in Aleppo and its outskirts, inflicting heavy losses on the "terrorists," the term used by authorities to refer to rebels.                             

In the Damascus suburb of Qudsaya, activists said the bodies of at least eight men were found who appeared to have been summarily executed, but the circumstances were not immediately clear.                                

Turkey signaled it would take action if there was a repeat of a mortar strike on its territory from inside Syria.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said any Syrian element approaching Turkey's border and deemed a threat would be treated as a military target.

  AP/REUTERS