Ancient minaret of Umayyad mosque falls victim to Syria's war The mosque before the destruction of the minaret ... Photo: Aleppo Media Centre BEIRUT: The minaret of Aleppo's ancient Umayyad mosque has been destroyed, Syrian state media and a watchdog have reported, with the regime and the opposition blaming each other. "Terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra blow up the minaret of the Grand Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo," state television reported, saying rebels were seeking to "accuse the Syrian Arab Army" of carrying out the attack. Activists uploaded video shot at the scene, showing the collapsed minaret, and rebels in the area said the army was responsible. ... and after. "Tanks began firing in the direction of the minaret until it was destroyed," one rebel said in a video posted on YouTube, insisting rebel snipers were not stationed inside the minaret. "We were afraid that it would be targeted," he said. The main opposition National Coalition also said an army tank had fired at the minaret, causing it to collapse. "The deliberate destruction of this minaret, under whose shadow Saladin . . . and [10th century Iraqi poet] Al-Mutanabbi rested, is a crime against human civilisation," said the Coalition. The Assad regime has done everything it can to destroy Syria's social fabric. Today, by killing people and destroying culture, it is sowing a bitterness in people's hearts that will be difficult to erase for a very long time. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the collapse of the minaret at the mosque, in Aleppo's Old City. The Umayyad mosque was originally built in the eighth century but was apparently destroyed and then rebuilt in the 13th century. The minaret predated the rest of the mosque. An archaeological treasure in Aleppo's UNESCO-listed Old City, the mosque has been the centre of fighting in recent months and already suffered extensive damage. It recently came back into rebel hands, but has been left pockmarked by bullets and stained with soot. Elsewhere Syria's army made gains by seizing a key town east of Damascus after weeks of fierce battles, the Observatory said. "Regime troops seized the town of Otaybeh after fierce combats that lasted several weeks, during which they used warplanes, tanks, artillery and rocket-launchers," said its director, Rami Abdel Rahman. After trying dozens of times to re-enter into the town, rebels withdrew at dawn after putting up a fierce resistance. Otaybeh is important because it opens the way to eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold east of Damascus that insurgents use as a rear base for infiltrating the capital. Rebels battled regime troops inside the key Minnigh military airport in the north of the country for the first time on Wednesday, the Observatory said. "The rebels, who have laid siege to the airport for months now, entered it for the first time around dawn," Mr Abdel Rahman said. Since the beginning of the year, rebel forces have been fighting what they call the "battle of the airports in Aleppo" in a bid to deprive the regime of a key supply route. Rebels have set their sights on the Aleppo international airport, along with several military fields.