Fire erupts at historic Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM: A fire broke out in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third-holiest site in Islam on Monday, RT reported.

According to a statement by the mosque's Waqf Department, fire broke out in the guard room outside the al-Marwani Prayer room. While the blaze did not cause any significant damage to the mosque, it did endanger a part of the worship site that’s over 2,000 years old.

Footage posted on social media showed smoke rising from the top of the Marwani Prayer room, also known as Solomon’s Stables, as firefighters tried to extinguish the flames on top of the Temple Mount.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned anyone against targeting the holy site, stressing the need to preserve the compound's “great religious and humanitarian value.”

Fire broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the same time as a raging inferno swept through the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.

The inferno destroyed the roof of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark, whose spectacular Gothic spire collapsed as orange flames and clouds of grey smoke billowed into the sky.

Around 400 firefighters battled into the night to control the flames, declaring in the early hours of Tuesday that the fire was under control, around nine hours after it broke out.