One of Syria's oldest synagogues has reportedly been destroyed.
According to the 'Daily Beast', the more than 400-year-old Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue in the Damascus suburb of Jobar, venerated as one of Syria's holiest pilgrimage site for Jews, was destroyed over the weekend by the Syrian Army of ruler Bashar al-Assad.
The synagogue was built in commemoration of the biblical prophet Elijah and has been a place of Jewish pilgrimage for many centuries. Last year, it was already reported that the shul had been burned to the ground, with both government and rebel forces trading blame over which party looted and destroyed the building. However, In June 2013 a video demonstrated that the synagogue had not been destroyed.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, most Jews left Syria due to grwoing restrictions on Jewish life. Jewish property could not be sold and those that had been abandoned were confiscated by the state.The Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue was taken over and converted into a school for displaced Palestinian Arabs. Today, there are no more functioning Jewish communities in Syria, which has been afflicted by a bloody civil war since 2011.
