Islamic State Reportedly Destroys Temple In Syria’s Palmyra

ISIL fighters blew up the Roman-era temple of Baal Shamin on Sunday, said Syria’s antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim.

Before the capture of the city, site of some of the world’s most extensive and best-preserved Roman-era ruins, Syrian officials said they had moved hundreds of ancient statues to safe locations.

The Temple of Baalshamin was reportedly rigged with explosives and then detonated – though reports remain conflicted as there are few observers in the active war zone and there are little if any journalists in the area.

The now-destroyed ancient temple of Baal Shamin was built in 17AD in honor of the Phoenician god Baalshamin and was later expanded under the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian in 130AD. Abdul-Karim said he was unsurprised to hear that the Islamic State had destroyed a temple.

Palmyra, where the temple was located, is listed as a world heritage site by the United Nations cultural body, UNESCO.

“Every two or three days we hear about something”, Abdulrahman said. A resident of Palmyra had told the AP the temple was destroyed on Sunday, a month after the group’s militants booby-trapped it with explosives.

Funerary busts were also destroyed by ISIS in Palmyra. Ban said that destroying such precious cultural heritage sites is nothing less than a war crime.

“One week after the killing of Professor Khaled al-Assaad, the archaeologist who had taken care of Palmyra’s ruins for 4 many years, this destruction is a brand new struggle crime and a wast loss for the Syrian individuals and for humanity”, he stated.

Until Tuesday pictures showing the destruction, or the aftermath, have not been available, but today IS released images showing their preparations and the explosion itself. However, the images could not be independently verified, but they carried a logo IS often uses for propaganda from Palmyra, which the group captured from Syrian government forces in May.