ISIS PULVERIZE HISTORY 2000-year-old arch falls victim to Islamic State

ISIL’s self-declared “caliphate”, argues such ancient relics promote idolatry and says they are destroying them as part of their purge of paganism.

It is the latest historical site to be destroyed by IS in the territory it controls in Iraq and Syria.

The Syrian antiquities directorate said it was increasingly anxious about Palmyra’s fate under the extremists, noting that the ancient city “stands for of tolerance and multicultural richness, the things ISIS hates”.

UNESCO has strongly condemned the destruction of World Heritage Sites as well as other ancient buildings and monuments suggesting that they are war crimes and has said on multiple occasions that IS militants are effectively wiping out evidence of Syria’s diverse heritage. “IS has destroyed it”, Palmyra activist Mohammad Hassan al-Homsi said to AFP, BBC reported. The city is an ancient wonder of Roman era buildings as well as columns, temples and arches.

Since capturing it last May, the terror-labelled group destroyed the city’s notorious military prison and several Islamic tombs. Satellite images showed the temples, each almost 2,000 years old, reduced to rubble.

Activists on a Facebook page from the city were despondent at the world reaction to Palmyra’s destruction, warning that Assad should not be viewed as the city’s savior.

“They want to destroy the amphitheatre, the colonnade”.

UNESCO says Islamic State seeks to wipe out evidence of Syria’s diverse heritage.

A year-long US-led air campaign has been unable to stop the militants, and Russian Federation five days ago started its own strikes against what it said are targets belonging to IS and other jihadist groups.

The country’s director of antiques, Professor Maamoun Abduilkarim, confirmed that Islamic State militants blew up the Arch of Triumph on Sunday.

“We are living through a catastrophe”.

ISIS seized the city in May and has since destroyed numerous historic ruins, including the Temple of Baalshamin in August.

According to a New York Times contact, a former Palmyra resident who has since fled to Turkey, many civilians are seeking to escape the city to avoid ISIS and government bombardment.