live Rubio tells allies U.S. will hold off new Iran strikes
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers Washington will focus on sanctions and other pressure on Iran “for the time bein...
More than half of the Syrian city of Aleppo's ancient markets have now been rebuilt, over a decade after they were reduced to rubble during the early years of the Syrian civil war.
Restoration crews are working through the old city's stone alleyways, hammering damaged blocks back into place and rebuilding shopfronts that once lay in ruins.
Mohamed Yasser Mawlawi, Director of the administrative district covering Old Aleppo, said reconstruction had now passed the halfway mark.
"The old markets of Aleppo are not just commercial markets. They are markets with a historical and a human dimension," he added.
The markets comprise of a network of vaulted stone passageways and carved wooden facades stretching roughly 13km (8 miles). They were once a major stop on the Silk Road trade route from China, and a magnet for tourists, as well as traders, in goods ranging from soap to jewellery.
The rebuilding effort is being carried out jointly by the Aga Khan Development Network, the United Nation's cultural agency UNESCO, the Syrian Development Organization and Syria's Ministry of Culture.
Yahya Basha, a Supervisor Engineer with the Aga Khan Foundation for Cultural Services, said his team had gathered old photographs and spoken to shop owners in order to recreate the markets accurately.
"We started restoring these markets and returning them to their original state... in order to preserve the cultural character of this market as it was in the past," he said.
Aleppo was one of Syria's main commercial hubs before the war reached the city in mid-2012, when rebel fighters seized its eastern districts. More than four years of fighting followed, destroying or burning down large sections of the medieval souk, before government forces retook the city in December 2016 and reconstruction slowly began.
Among those who have returned is shopkeeper Ayman Saeed, who reopened his premises after a 13-year absence.
"I came back to my work and started operating again, just like all the other people who own shops in the old markets," he said, naming Al-Madina Souk, Al-Muhammas, Al-Hubeis and Al-Saqatiyya among those still to be revived.
"Of course they are small shops, but each shop supports the livelihood of about three to four families, through a shop like this," he added.
Aleppo's Old City is one of several sites in Syria designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Oil prices fell after the U.S. expanded economic sanctions on Iran, as Tehran vowed to retaliate and warned it had tools to respond, raising concerns over potential disruption to regional oil supplies.
Kyiv has recently received a small number of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. It comes as Britain and France pledged stronger military support for Ukraine.
Only four commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, following 13 transits a day earlier, as disruptions continue to restrict traffic through the key energy chokepoint.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers Washington will focus on sanctions and other pressure on Iran “for the time being”, Axios reports. Meanwhile, Iran and Oman have resumed talks on a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 10 prisoners of war each in Belarus, Moscow's Human Rights Commissioner, Yana Lantratova, has said.
The UN has condemned the entry of Israeli forces into a UNRWA training centre in East Jerusalem, warning the move could disrupt vital education for young Palestinians.
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan are among 11 countries set to benefit from a $400 million Asian Development Bank investment aimed at cutting freight times and costs along key Central Asian transport corridors.
At least 14 infants were killed when a fire broke out at a state-run hospital in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, the prime minister said, with local media saying it was triggered by a fault in the air conditioning system.
The YPG has announced that it is dissolving its so-called autonomous administration and ending its separate military and civilian structures, marking a significant step towards bringing the group under the authority of the Syrian state.
Government officials, investors and technology leaders have gathered in Tashkent for the inaugural Silk Road Finance and Technology Forum, a new platform aimed at exploring how financial technology can drive economic growth across Central Asia.
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