Arabic architecture

Turkey's President Erdoğan on July 22 called for an immediate end to Israel's new restrictions at the compound of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

"Metal detectors and other restrictions should be immediately lifted and returned to the status quo. Everyone should be guard against provocations at this sensitive time," Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a written statement. 

A Turkish ultra-nationalist group has attacked a synagogue in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district with stones during a protest against the new Israeli restrictions on Palestinians' entry to the al-Aqsa mosque.

Israel reopened an ultra-sensitive holy site on July 16 closed after an attack that killed two policemen, but Muslim worshippers were refusing to enter due to new security measures including metal detectors and cameras.

Crowds chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) as a number of initial visitors entered Jerusalem's Haram al-Sharif compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

U.S.-backed fighters have breached the ancient wall of the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa, marking new progress in the battle to rout the militants from their most important strongholds, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

Istanbul's cultural protection board on Jan. 6 approved a plan to construct a mosque in the city's main Taksim Square. 

The controversial plan has been in the works for decades and was previously objected to as it was ruled to be against public benefit. 

The angle of an 11th century mosque minaret near the eastern Turkish province of Elazığ has drawn comparisons to Pisa's famous leaning tower.      

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova has received "death threats' over her supposed reservations about a resolution that would only highlight holy sites in Jerusalem as Muslim and not Jewish.

"The director general has received death threats and her protection has had to be reinforced," Carmel Shama Cohen, Israel's Ambassador to the UN, has told Israeli public radio, according to AFP.

The Islamic madrasa and the Christian university were both religious educational establishments. However, over time the madrasa stayed a madrasa while the university transformed into the university we know today.  

BELGRADE - The Syrian army continues to move into the northern province of Raqqa, home to the de facto capital of the self-claimed caliphate of the Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) group fighting in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

The army first pushed into Raqqa Saturday.

After vowing to give a merciless response to the attacks at multiple venues in Paris, France carried out air raids in Raqqa, Syria. 10 fighter jets dropped 20 bombs targeting Islamic State command and control centers, ammunition depots and a training camp.