Syrian rebels bomb historic hotel in a show of force

Syrian rebels bombed a once luxurious, historic hotel being used as a government army base in the northern city of Aleppo, levelling the building and causing multiple casualties in a giant explosion carried off by digging tunnels under the complex, activists and militants said.

The blast set off a gigantic mushroom cloud next to the historic citadel of Aleppo, collapsing the Carlton Hotel in a government-held area near the front lines in the city, which has been one of the bloodiest battlegrounds of Syria’s civil war.

The attack was a powerful show by rebels that they can still deal heavy blows at a time of a significant defeat elsewhere.

Rebels completed their withdrawal from Homs in a negotiated evacuation that surrenders Syria’s third largest city to full government control for the first time in more than two years. Syrian state TV announced that the last of the rebels left Homs by the afternoon.

The death toll from the Aleppo bombing was not immediately known.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which maintains a network of activists on the ground, said at least 14 soldiers died in the blast.

The Islamic Front, Syria’s biggest rebel alliance which claimed the attack, claimed to have killed 50 soldiers.

In a live broadcast from the site of blast, Syrian state TV’s correspondent in Aleppo stood on a huge pile of rubble with twisted metal and palm trees sticking out, saying that the army had been using the building as a base and soldiers were positioned there at the time of the explosion.

- Meanwhile the head of the mission charged with destroying Syria’s chemical weapons has said the last 16 containers of chemical agents awaiting transport out of the country are in a contested area near Damascus which is currently inaccessible.

Sigrid Kaag told reporters after briefing the UN Security Council that it is not possible to arrange a ceasefire so authorities can get to the site where five containers of the most dangerous chemicals are awaiting removal.