Syria's antiquities department and a war monitor on Sunday said a 3,000-year-old temple has been damaged in Turkish air strikes on a Kurdish militia in the country's north. The iron age neo-Hittite temple of Ain Dara dates back to the Aramean era, from around 1,300 to 700 BC, and is named after a village located in the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin.

Turkey launched operation "Olive Branch" on January 20 against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin, supporting Syrian opposition fighters with ground troops and air strikes. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the temple was struck by air strikes on Friday. "It has been destroyed up to 60 percent," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. Former antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said the temple was discovered in 1982 and is known for its "colossal basalt lions which are exceptional".

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018