Syrian state television reports 'huge explosion' levels hotel in northern city of Aleppo

[The Straight Story]

Syrian state television reports 'huge explosion' levels hotel in northern city of Aleppo

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-newsalert-625

[maddezmom]

1. More info

May 8, 2014 4:38 a.m. ET
BEIRUT—A "huge explosion" Thursday in northern Syria leveled a hotel that government troops used as a military base, along with several other buildings in a government-held area, state television and activists reported.

Syrian state television said the explosion struck on the edge of a contested old neighborhood in Aleppo. The television report identified the hotel as the Charlton hotel.

A local activist group called the Sham News Network also reported the blast, saying that President Bashar al-Assad's troops were based in the hotel.

Another activist group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the explosion struck Aleppo's Old City, where rebels have been holed up from months. The Observatory said the rebels belonging to the Islamic Front group planted a huge amount of explosives in a tunnel they dug below the Charlton hotel, detonating it remotely.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304431104579549213841117616?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304431104579549213841117616.html