IS beheads leading Syrian antiquities scholar in Palmyra

Syrian state antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said Asaad’s family had informed him that the scholar, who had been held for over month, was beheaded in Palmyra on Tuesday, according to the Guardian.

Islamic State, whose insurgents control swathes of Syria and Iraq, captured Palmyra, in central Syria, in May but are not thought to have damaged its well-preserved, 2,000-year-old Roman-era ruins.

THE beheading by Isis jihadists of an “irreplaceable” antiquities scholar, who had spent decades protecting the archaeological treasures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, sparked an worldwide outcry. Just before ISIS took Palmyra earlier this year, Asaad oversaw the effort to rescue the site’s precious artifacts, shipping many of them from the city’s museum to safety.

He also wrote scholarly texts on the city, worked with worldwide teams to excavate ancient tombs and temples and helped restore ancient parts of Palmyra, The Washington Post reports.

“Why did they kill him?” asked Hariri.

IS has demolished several ancient sites in Iraq, and there are fears that it will destroy Palmyra, one of the Archaeological jewels of the Middle East. A sign tied to the corpse identifies it as al-Asaad and describes him as an “apostate” and “supporter of the Alawite regime”, in reference to the minority religious group of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“But they will not succeed”.

“It is different to what you might get from a book or a lecture…so it is irreplaceable, ” he said, adding that Mr al-Asaad was always “very charming and welcoming” and willing to share his knowledge. A statue of a lion displayed in front of Palmyra’s museum was destroyed in July.

Residents told dpa that civilians and members of Kurdish forces were among the dead in the blast, which was heard up to 5 kilometres away. The execution is one of hundreds that have been carried out by ISIS in and around Palmyra since they took the city.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Wednesday’s explosion happened outside a local Kurdish police station in the town of Qamishli. It said more than 40 people were wounded in the blast.

The IS claimed responsibility for the blast. The group has been battling Kurdish fighters in Syria since past year, and the extremists have carried out dozens of suicide attacks against the Kurds.