Staff Reporter: One of the world's oldest mosques has been discovered in the Negev Desrt in Israel. Archaeologists found the remains of the mosque , built around 1200 years ago, on the outskirts of the northern city of Tiberias on the shore of the Galilee sea,

According to Arab News, part of the ancient mosque was found with a Byzantine-era building.

The mosque is believed to have been built in 635 by a Companion who conquered Syrian territories in the seventh century.

Last week,a team of Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of the mosque at an academic conference . They found the mosque on the outskirts of the northern Israeli city of Tiberias.

The team, led by Katia Citrine Silverman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has been searching the area for 11 years.

The first pillar, marked as a Byzantine market, was unearthed on the site in 1950,.

Later some pieces of Islamic coins and pottery were discovered.

Archaeologists have identified the ruins as an eighth-century mosque, but further excavations have revealed that the structure is more ancient.