Inside Story: Why Is ISIL Targeting Cultural Heritage?

The armed group's destruction of ancient sites in Syria and Iraq is drawing condemnation worldwide.

Isis in Palmyra: Militants Release First Images Showing Destruction of Baalshamin Temple

THE INDEPENDENT: Unseco has described the attack on Syria's cultural history, reported by activists on Sunday, as a 'war crime', while the British Museum is 'deeply distressed'

The Isis militant group has released a series of images purporting to show the destruction of the ancient Baalshamin Temple in Palmyra.

Images posted online and shared by Isis-affiliated social media accounts showed fighters, whose faces were cropped out of the photographs, lining the 2,000-year-old monument with explosives.

Explosives can be seen wired together both inside and outside the structure of the building, which experts said was one of the best-preserved and most completely intact examples of Greco-Roman architecture at the ancient site. » | Adam Withnall | Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Isis 'Blows Up Temple Dating Back to 17AD' in Syrian City of Palmyra

Temple of Baal Shamin, which has been apparently
blown up by Isis.

THE GUARDIAN: Official says group destroyed Baal Shamin in city described as being of outstanding universal value and first appearing in 19th century BC

Islamic State blew up the ancient temple of Baal Shamin in the Unesco-listed Syrian city of Palmyra, the country’s antiquities chief has said.

“Daesh placed a large quantity of explosives in the temple of Baal Shamin ... and then blew it up causing much damage to the temple,” said Maamoun Abdulkarim, using another name for Isis.

Isis, which controls swaths of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, captured Palmyra on 21 May, sparking international concern about the fate of the heritage site described by Unesco as of outstanding universal value. “The [inner area of the temple] was destroyed and the columns around collapsed,” said Abdulkarim.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that monitors the country’s civil war, confirmed the destruction of the temple. » | Agence France Presse in Damascus | Sunday, August 23, 2015