On Friday, militants from the Islamic Frontթ§Չ-Չ§s (Jabhat Al-Islamiyya) largest milita թ§Չ-ժHarakat թ§Չ-խAhrar Al-Shamթ§Չ-Թ (Liberators of the Levant Movement) fired multiple mortar shells at the St. Rita Cathedral in the Al-Tillal District, resulting in the exterior destruction of this historical Armenian Catholic Church in the Aleppo Governorate.
The St. Rita Cathedral has been targeted by Harakat թ§Չ-խAhrar Al-Sham on numerous occasions; it holds no strategic advantage to these militants, due to the fact that civilians թ§Չ-Չ specifically, Aleppoթ§Չ-Չ§s large Armenian community թ§Չ-Չ attend this church. Non-Armenian Catholic civilians occasionally utilize the Cathedralթ§Չ-Չ§s wells because of the absence of water in some communities due to the obstruction of the water flow to the people of Aleppo, reports The Arab Source.
According to a source in the area, no civilians were harmed as a result of this callous attack on the Cathedral; however, there were a number of hellfire cannons fired into the surrounding civilian neighborhoods by the militants of Harakat թ§Չ-խAhrar Al-Sham.
The attack on the St. Rita Cathedral in Al-Tillal comes 4 months after the destruction of the Armenian Memorial by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) in the Deir Ezzor Governorate. Syriaթ§Չ-Չ§s Armenian community is one of the largest in the Middle East թ§Չ-Չ the city of Aleppo was a safe haven for many Armenians attempting to flee the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks.
French authorities say the two armed suspects in this week’s Charlie Hebdo attack have been killed and their hostage freed during a police raid northeast of Paris. A separate raid in the capital killed another gunman holding multiple hostages at a kosher supermarket in the capital, but police said four hostages died in that operation.
Explosions and gunfire sounded as police moved in Friday afternoon, almost simultaneously, on the supermarket in Paris and on the industrial town of Dammartin-en-Goele, near Charles DeGaulle international airport. Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, named as the principal suspects in Wednesday’s bloody attack on the satirical magazine in Paris, came out of hiding in a warehouse and began firing as police moved in. They were cut down in return gunfire from a large force of police on the scene.
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