Syrian army forces have reportedly fired mortar shells on one of the world’s oldest synagogues. Syrian opposition forces released footage showing damage to the roof of the the 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue outside of Damascus, and blaming the destruction on forces loyal to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Jewish tradition says the synagogue was built on top of a cave where the biblical prophet Elijah had hidden while being pursued by the Israelite king Ahab. Tradition says that the synagogue was built by the prophet Elisha, and repaired in the first century by the famed rabbinic sage Eleazar ben Arach.

“In Ben Arach’s time the Romans forbid Torah study in the Land of Israel,” Prof. Yaron Harel, head of Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Jewish Studies, told The Tower. “So he fled there and established a house of worship where Elijah had hidden.”

“This is the most sacred place to the Jews of Damascus,” Harel added, “and Jews would come from all over the region to be healed there.”

The footage released by Syrian rebels showed damage to the structure’s roof. Though the extent and the source of the damage are unknown, the footage comes at a time of growing fears that the Syrian conflict is taking on sectarian dimensions that threaten to engulf the entire region.

Fortunately, said Harel, the synagogue does not seem to have sustained substantial damage. The rebel footage, he speculated, “may have been mostly for propaganda purposes, in order to rile up anti-Assad sentiment among Jews around the world.”