Islamic State systematically destroying heritage sites — UNESCO

The so-called “Islamic State” group has demolished an ancient monastery in central Syria, according to a priest and activists.

The monastery of Mar Elian was dedicated to Saint Elian, the son of a Roman officer killed by his father in 284 AD for refusing to renounce his Christian faith.

The militants have also moved Christians taken captive in the town to their headquarters in Raqqa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group.

Since capturing a few third of Syria and Iraq final yr, IS fighters have destroyed mosques, church buildings and archaeological websites, inflicting in depth injury to the traditional cities of Nimrud, Hatra and Dura Europos in Iraq.

On Tuesday, IS militants publicly beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, an 81-year-old Palmyra resident and antiquities scholar whose lifelong work had earned him the nickname “Mr. Palmyra within the archaeological group”.

Earlier in August, ISIS defeated the Syrian forces and captured Qaryatain in the Homs district of western Syria, abducting over 250 Christians in the process.

“The intentional targeting and systematic destruction of the cultural heritage of Syria is reaching unprecedented levels”, she said.

Referring to the hostages’ situation, Audo said the IS had “two goals” in kidnapping them: the first was to obtain ransom money in exchange for the hostages’ release.

In May, Syrian priest Jacques Mourad was abducted from the monastery by masked men as he prepared to receive residents of nearby Palmyra fleeing a Daesh advance.

Speaking to the AP on Friday, Edward urged the global community to use every means to protect Christians as well as ancient Christian sites in Syria.

In February ISIS posted a video showing militants demolishing ancient statues and other artifacts, saying that what they destroyed were in fact symbols of idolatry.

Mourad was known in the area for extending aid to displaced Syrian Christians and Muslims at the monastery. Their fates remain unknown. Al-Asaad, a long-time site director, had refused to leave Palmyra after it was overrun by IS. “We walked through the colonnades, more than a kilometer of lovely colonnades”.

“We haven’t seen something similar since the Second World War”, Ms Bokova said of the scope of the IS campaign against ancient sites.

Archaeological experts have speculated that IS has, in the past, used the destruction of heritage sites to cover for the lucrative looting and selling of archaeological treasures.