Syria: The Destruction of Old Damascus · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

The Syrian government is sponsoring a project that will destroy the last pieces of the Old City of Damascus [World's oldest continuously inhabited city] remaining outside the city walls, including Souqs (bazaars) that date back to the Mamluke period, reports Ammar. “Despite ample protests by civil society advocates, current residents and international NGOs, the Syrian authorities are said to move forward with plans to destroy the last pieces of Old Damascus that remain just outside the Old City Walls, especially the area known as Souq al-Manakhliyyah. Should this indeed take place, thousands of Damascene families will be thrown out of their dwellings with little or no compensation, and a piece of history will perish forever,” he wrote.