The town of Aleppo is famend for its historic citadel. (File)

Damascus:

A number of of Syria’s archaeological websites together with a famed citadel within the northern metropolis of Aleppo have been broken in a lethal pre-dawn earthquake Monday, the nation’s antiquities authority mentioned.

“Components of the Ottoman mill contained in the citadel” of Aleppo have collapsed, whereas “sections of the northeastern defensive partitions have cracked and fallen”, Syria’s Directorate-Basic of Antiquities and Museums mentioned in an announcement.

Components of the dome of the minaret of the Ayyubid mosque contained in the citadel fell off, whereas the doorway to the fort has been broken, “together with the doorway to the Mamluk tower”, it added, publishing images of the location on its Fb web page.

Greater than 850 individuals have been killed throughout Syria as buildings collapsed after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck neighbouring Turkey, state media and rescuers mentioned.

No less than 156 individuals died in Aleppo province alone and 507 have been injured when 46 buildings collapsed, the official information company SANA had mentioned, quoting an official.

The town of Aleppo is famend for its historic citadel, its UNESCO-listed historic centre and its centuries-old coated markets.

Aleppo was Syria’s pre-war industrial hub and regarded one of many world’s longest constantly inhabited cities, boasting markets, mosques, caravanserais, and public baths, however a brutal siege imposed on rebels left it disfigured.

Even earlier than the earthquake, buildings in Aleppo usually collapsed attributable to poor infrastructure after greater than a decade of struggle and little oversight to make sure the protection of recent building tasks.

In Hama province, archaeological surveys discovered that “some buildings inside the traditional Al-Marqab Fort” within the metropolis of Baniyas had been broken, whereas elements of the fortifications and a tower had fallen, the antiquities physique mentioned.

In Tartus province, a part of a rocky cliff fell within the neighborhood of the Qadmus fortress, and residential buildings on the location collapsed, it added.

Knowledgeable groups have been reportedly assessing the harm, and whether or not the earthquake had affected the traditional metropolis of Palmyra.

The pre-dawn quake hit close to Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey at a depth of about 18 kilometres (11 miles), the US Geological Survey mentioned.

Tremors have been additionally felt in Lebanon and Cyprus, AFP correspondents mentioned.

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)