Friday prayers cancelled in Aleppo for ‘first time’ amid heavy fighting

Despite carnage, Aleppo has been excluded from fresh 'freeze' in fighting due to start tonight


Syrian civil defence volunteers remove body of man from rubble of destroyed buildings after airstrikes on Wednesday (AFP) 

Lizzie Porter-Friday 29 April 2016

MARDIN, Turkey - Friday prayers were cancelled in Aleppo for the first time since the war began, after days of airstrikes that led to scores of deaths and left mosques in ruins.

The city’s legal council on Friday asked mosque guardians to keep places of worship shut on the eighth continuous day of fighting in the northern city.

It recommended that people pray in private homes because of the risks posed by “God’s enemies” to public gatherings.

Friday is normally the most significant day of the week in the Islamic calendar, when thousands of people attend mosques to listen to imams’ sermons and worship collectively.

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