A tourism landmark for 2000 years, a UNESCO World Heritage site blown up by ISIS

The 82-year-old retired antiquities chief was tortured, beheaded, and took an important part of history and tourism to his death bed.

The 82-year-old retired antiquities chief was tortured, beheaded, and took an important part of history and tourism to his death bed. He earlier said: “Our darkest predictions are unfortunately taking place.”

The UNESCO World Heritage site was captured by the Islamic State on May 21, 2015, but not before some of the precious artifacts were removed by the Syrian government and transported to Damascus.

The ancient Baal Shamin Temple has become the latest target of Islamic State jihadists vandalizing the Syrian city of Palmyra, officials have confirmed, fearing further destruction of unique well-preserved ruins and artifacts at the UNESCO World Heritage site.

โ€œDaesh [the Arabic acronym for ISIS] placed a large quantity of explosives in the temple of Baal Shamin today and then blew it up causing much damage to the temple,โ€ Syriaโ€™s Antiquities Chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told AFP.

The temple was destroyed with its world-famous columns collapsing around it.

โ€œWe have said repeatedly the next phase would be one of terrorizing people, and when they have time they will begin destroying temples,โ€ Abdulkarim told Reuters. โ€œGod help us in the days to come.โ€

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the destruction of the temple which dates back to the first century.

Originally erected in 17 AD to the Phoenician god of storms and fertilizing rains, it was expanded under the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian in 130 AD, taking on the appearance which lasted for two millennia.

Palmyra, known as the “pearl of the desert,” before the arrival of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) was a well-preserved open-air museum only some 210 kilometers (130 miles) away from the Syrian capital Damascus.

Two days later, the first accounts of destruction of ancient artifacts by the militants surfaced. Jihadists believe that pagan statues are idolatrous and, therefore, should be destroyed on the territory of the โ€œcaliphateโ€ IS claims to be building in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq.

In addition to destruction, by the end of May, Palmyra has emerged as one of the scaffolds for the public executions of IS opponents. To the shock of the world community, IS mined the ancient site in June, before proceeding to destroy the Lion Statue of Athena that stood more than three meters high.

โ€œOur darkest predictions are unfortunately taking place,โ€ said Abdulkarim. IS โ€œcarried out executions in the ancient theatre (of Palmyra), they destroyed in July the famous Lion Statue of Athena … and transformed the museum into a prison and a courtroom.โ€

Just several days before the Baal Shamin Temple was blown up, Palmyra’s 82-year-old retired Antiquities Chief, Khaled al-Asaad, was beheaded by the jihadists after being tortured for a month to get information about the city and its treasures.

According to reports, al-Asaad died without sharing any secrets with IS. He had been director of the Palmyra archaeological site for 40 years until his retirement in 2003.

Syriaโ€™s antiquity chief says IS is now excavating for gold in the ancient city and has proceeded to give out licenses for illicit digs for the cityโ€™s treasures to finance their terror campaign.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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