Umayyad architecture

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.

The four-century-old Sultanahmet Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, on Istanbul's historic peninsula, is slated to undergo a major restoration starting from next week, Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak has said.

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.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Oct. 6 he wanted to avoid a violent escalation with Israel as Israeli police lifted restrictions on worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in an apparent bid to ease tensions after three weeks of violence.

Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound for a third straight day on Sept. 15, an AFP correspondent reported.

Muslims and Israeli police clashed at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound for a second straight day on Sept. 14, prompting at least three arrests, police said.

"As the police entered the compound masked youths fled inside the mosque and threw stones at the force," a police statement said.    

Turkey?s top cleric has condemned Israel for what he called as ?occupation? of Jerusalem?s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which was a scene to brief clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters, raising tensions in the holy city ahead of the Jewish New Year.

Seljuk and Ottoman era structures are being deliberately destroyed in Syria, according to a professor who previously worked on these artifacts.

Israeli police entered one of Islam's holiest places -- annexed east Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque --- on Sunday to tackle suspected Palestinian rioters, police said.  

The compound, which is also revered by Jews, is one of the biggest flashpoints in the Middle East. Israel routinely imposes age restrictions on Muslim worshippers.    

A man faces between three months and one year in jail for having an imam announce the death of a woman via the loudspeaker of a mosque in Istanbul's Çekmeköy neighborhood, despite the woman being alive, daily Habertürk has reported.