Damascus’ 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue – one of the world’s oldest synagogues and Syria’s holiest Jewish site – has been burned to the ground and its contents looted. Responsibility for the destruction remains unclear, and both the Syrian regime and anti-government rebels on Sunday accused each other of destroying the building.
Propaganda outlets linked to the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis blamed the crime on an intelligence raid by “Zionist commandos.” Citing the Arabic-language website Syria Truth – a known Assad propaganda outlet – Hezbollah’s Al-Manar reported that the “agents” were assisted by Jordan, Turkey, the Free Syrian Army, and Al-Qaeda.
“A Zionist commandos unit [sic] composed of 15 members landed in Damascus earlier this week and removed rare items from the temple known as ‘Eliyahoo,’” Al-Manar said, adding that Free Syrian Army units from the southern town of Deraa hold “regular meetings with Zionist intelligence services in Amman.”
According to Jewish tradition, the synagogue was built atop a cave where the biblical prophet Elijah had hidden while pursued by Israel’s King Ahab. The building itself is believed to have been built by the prophet Elisha, and repaired in the first century by the legendary rabbinic sage Eleazar ben Arach.
Last month Syrian rebels posted footage to YouTube showing damage to the synagogue, blaming the regime.
“This is the most sacred place to the Jews of Damascus,” Bar Ilan University expert Prof. Yaron Harel told The Tower last month. “Jews would come from all over the region to be healed there.”
At the time, Harel said the damage appeared largely superficial, and limited mainly to the roof. The video, he said, “may have been mostly for propaganda purposes, in order to rile up anti-Assad sentiment among Jews around the world.”
Sunday’s reports indicate the synagogue no longer stands at all.
The site’s destruction will be read against the backdrop of the openly sectarian nature of the Syrian war, which has drawn in Sunni states in support of the opposition, Shiite Iran and its proxies on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad regime, and regional Kurdish groups.
[Photo: JewishNewsOne / YouTube]