IS ‘blow up’ Palmyra’s ancient temple of Baalshamin

Islamic State militants on Sunday blew up the traditional temple of Baal Shamin in the UNESCO-listed Syrian metropolis of Palmyra, an official stated, the newest in a collection of cultural relics to be destroyed by the jihadist group.

“Daesh placed a large quantity of explosives in the temple of Baal Shamin today and then blew it up causing much damage to the temple”, Syria’s antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said, using another name for IS. Turkey-based activist Osama Khatib, who’s initially from Palmyra, nevertheless, stated the temple was blown up Sunday.

Both relied on information for those still in Palmyra and the discrepancy in their accounts could not be immediately reconciled, though such contradictory information is common in Syria’s long civil war. Islamic State supporters on social media additionally didn’t instantly point out the Temple of Bel’s destruction.

IS militants have been known to destroy other ancient sites they have captured, notably in Mosul, Iraq, where video footage in February showed them using sledgehammers, power drills and pickaxes to destroy priceless 3,000-year-old artifacts. Nevertheless, they’re additionally believed to unload looted antiquities to fund their operations.

The temple dates to the first century and is dedicated to the Phoenician god of storms and fertilizing rains.

The head of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, told the AP on Friday that ISIL in Syria and Iraq was engaged in the “most brutal, systematic” destruction of ancient sites since World War II. The monastery was within the city of Qaryatain in central Syria.

News of the temples destruction comes after relatives and witnesses said Wednesday that Khaled al-Asaad, an 81-year-old antiquities scholar who devoted his life to understanding Palmyra, was beheaded by ISIS, his bloodied body hung on a pole.

The SANA report Sunday didn’t specify when the explosion took place. Qassim al-Dulaimi, was lightly wounded in the attack, the officials said.

IS has additionally executed lots of of individuals in the town and surrounding space, lots of them authorities staff, and infamously used youngster members to shoot lifeless 25 Syrian authorities troopers in Palmyra’s historic amphitheatre.

The newest developments come simply days after IS jihadists beheaded the eighty two-yr-previous retired chief archaeologist of Palmyra.