(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The Syrian government and a war monitor said on Sunday that Turkish shelling of the Kurdish-held Afrin region of Syria had seriously damaged an ancient temple.
Ain Dara is an iron age temple with remains of large carved basalt blocks and wall reliefs.
Pictures circulating online, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed an apparent shell crater in the site.
A statement from the Syrian government’s antiquities department carried by Syrian state media called for international pressure on Turkey “to prevent the targeting of archaeological and cultural sites”.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Ain Dara was exposed to Turkish shelling, causing significant damage but no casualties.
The Turkish military was not immediately available for comment.
Turkey launched the so-called Operation Olive Branch in Afrin last week in a bid to eliminate the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).
Turkey has warned that its operation in Afrin could expand to the nearby Syrian city of Manbij.
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