IS Leaves Trail of Destruction in Syria's Palmyra

BBC: The BBC's Lyse Doucet says the trail of destruction left by Islamic State militants in Palmyra extends beyond the ancient Syrian city's famous Roman-era ruins.

She finds the city council building in utter ruin and the basement of a deserted building filled with a paperwork detailing the jihadist group's brutal rule. (+ BBC video) » | Friday, March 24, 2017

ISIS Executes 12 in Palmyra

On Jan. 19, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that ISIS executed 12 people in Palmyra

ISIS Destroys Part of Roman Theater in Palmyra – Syrian Antiquities Chief

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists have destroyed part of a Roman theater and the legendary four-column structure ‘Tetrapylon’ in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syrian TV reports.

France: As Palmyra Falls, Paris Heritage Show Looks to the Future

France: As Palmyra falls, Paris heritage show looks to the future

Assad: West Doesn't Worry When Terrorists Attack Palmyra & Destroy Human Heritage

In an interview to RT, the Syrian President warned against taking statements by western governments at face value, as in Aleppo, they seemed to care more about saving terrorists than civilians. He also slammed the lackluster reaction to ISIS’s onslaught on Palmyra.

Palmyra Attack: 4,000 ISIS Fighters Regroup, Make New Attempt to Capture Key Syrian City

Over 4,000 Islamic State terrorists, reinforced by tanks, have started an offensive to retake the key Syrian city of Palmyra after regrouping themselves, the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria says.

Road to Palmyra: RT Follows Assad Army Assault on ISIS Positions

RT's Lizzie Phelan and her crew report from Palmyra in direct sight of Islamic State militants, who are holding positions among the ruins of the world heritage site. With the terrorists weakened by Russian airstrikes, the Syrian Army is preparing for an offensive to retake Palmyra.

ISIS Blows Up 2,000 Year Old Arch of Triumph in Palmyra

A two-thousand year old Arch of Triumph, a jewel in the collection of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, has reportedly been the target of Islamic State militants, who see the buildings as pagan and sacrilegious. UNESCO chief Irina Bokova told RT'S "Worlds Apart", why Islamic State's destruction of historic ruins will have dire consequences.

Isis Blows Up Arch of Triumph in 2,000-year-old City of Palmyra

THE GUARDIAN: Monument described as ‘jewel in the collection’ of Unesco-listed Syrian city is destroyed and follows the razing of other statues and temples

Islamic State militants have destroyed the Arch of Triumph in the ancient city of Palmyra, a monument that dates back to the Roman empire, Syria’s chief of antiquities told the Guardian.

Maamoun Abdulkarim said sources in the city, which was conquered by Isis after a week-long siege in May, had informed him the arch was destroyed on Sunday in the latest act of vandalism against Syria’s cultural heritage perpetrated by Isis.

“It’s a crime in every sense of the word,” he said in a telephone interview from Damascus. “All we can do is share the sadness.”

The arch was built in commemoration of a visit by the emperor and his entourage when Palmyra was a Roman colony. Isis’s puritanical interpretation of Islam deems the preservation of ancient artefacts and monuments to be a form of idolatry. (+ video) » | Kareem Shaheen in Beirut | Monday, October 5, 2015

Isil 'Blows Up Temple of Bel' in Ancient Syrian City of Palmyra

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: It is the second of the city's ancient temples to be destroyed in a week as jihadist groups continues its programme of "cultural cleansing"

Violent jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have partially destroyed the the most famous landmark in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.

The Temple of Bel was damaged on Sunday, according to messages posted on the Twitter account of a local activist group, the Palmyra Co-ordination Council.

Although the extent of the destruction was unclear, a Palmyra resident, Nasser al Thaer, said that a huge blast had echoed through the area on Sunday afternoon.

"The bricks and the columns are on the ground," he told the Associated Press. » | Louisa Loveluck | Sunday, August 30, 2015

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

Isil Murders Scholar Who Hid Treasures of Palmyra

Khaled Asad, the Director of Antiquities and Museum in Palmyra

THE TELEGRAPH: Isil extremists behead revered antiquities scholar Khaled al-Asaad in ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, says government official

Militants from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have killed a revered archaeologist in the Syrian city of Palmyra, after he refused to give up the secrets of its ancient treasures.

Syrian state antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said on Tuesday that 82-year-old Khaled al-Asaad, longtime director of the Palmyra museum, was beheaded in a local square before his body was placed on display in public.

The archaeologist had been detained and interrogated for over a month by Isil, Mr Abdulkarim told Reuters. The jihadists had wanted to extract information about the whereabouts of precious Palmyra antiquities which had been removed as the extremist group advanced on the city. » | Louisa Loveluck | Wednesday, August 19, 2015

IS-Extremisten köpfen Chef-Archäologen von Palmyra

DIE WELT: 50 Jahre war Palmyra sein Leben. Jetzt hat der IS den Chef-Archäologen der antiken Ruinenstadt in Syrien geköpft und Bilder seines enthaupteten Leichnams veröffentlicht. Ein "Omen", so die Behörden.

Die Terrormiliz Islamischer Staat (IS) hat nach Angaben des staatlichen Leiters für Antiquitäten, Mamoun Abdul Karim, den 82-jährigen Chef-Archäologen der antiken Wüstenstadt Palmyra in Syrien geköpft. Khaled Asaad hatte seit mehr als 50 Jahren die Forschungsarbeiten an den Ruinen des Unesco-Welterbes geleitet.

Nach Angaben seiner Familie wurde er vor über einem Monat von den Dschihadisten verschleppt. Zur Machtdemonstration wurde sein enthaupteter Leichnam an einer Straßenkreuzung der Stadt zur Schau gestellt und ein Foto davon im Internet veröffentlicht. » | Reuters/rct | Mittwoch, 19. August 2015

Islamic State Jihadists Execute Dozens amid Palmyra Ruins

25 Syrian government soldiers kneel in the ancient amphitheatre
in the city of Palmyra ahead of being executed by children

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A new Isil video shows teenage executioners using the Unesco heritage site as a theatre for death

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have released a video purportedly showing the execution of dozens of Syrian government soldiers in the ancient ruins of Palmyra.

The footage shows 25 men kneeling on the stage of the site's historic Roman theatre, their hands tied behind their backs.

With ritualistic precision, the same numbers of executioners then step out in unison, each taking up position behind one of the condemned. A large black Isil flag is draped over the columns behind them.

Wearing matching long brown robes and brown bandannas the executioners appear to be boys or young teenagers – few look old enough to grow a beard.

Footage filmed from cameras trained on the soldiers' faces show that the men have been beaten.

Then the child jihadists transform the world-class tourist attraction into a killing ground.

Simultaneously raising their pistols, they spray bullets into the heads and backs of the men, leaving them lifeless and bloody on the ground.

An apparently unhappy crowd of onlookers, mostly dressed in civilian clothes, are gathered on the seats of the stadium watching the grisly show. » | Ruth Sherlock, Beirut | Sunday, July 5, 2015

Islamic State Takes Sledgehammer to 'Irreplaceable' Ancient Palmyra Ruins

ISIS militants use heavy[-]duty sledgehammers to destroy
the historic statues in front of a large crowd, Palmyra

THE TELEGRAPH: Isil militants have released images showing a civilian being forced to destroy priceless artefacts from the Roman city of Palmyra as the head of Unesco warned of "cultural cleansing" by the extremist group'

Militants from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) are feared to have begun destruction of Syria’s Roman city of Palmyra as the head of Unesco warned of "cultural cleansing" by the extremist group.

Maamoun Abdelkarim, Syrian antiquities minister, said on Thursday the militants had destroyed a 15 tonne statue of a lion, known as the Lion of Al-Lat.

"It's the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyra's heritage," Mr Abdelkarim told AFP news agency. Isil seized Palmyra's ruins from Syrian government control in May, prompting widespread fears that the group could destroy the a Unesco World Heritage site as an act of propaganda.

The jihadists have destroyed cultural treasures across the Middle East and North Africa, often describing the sites as idolatrous. » | Louisa Loveluck, Cairo | Thursday, July 2, 2015

Islamic State Flag Flies at Palmyra Citadel

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Islamic State fighters have raised their flag over an ancient citadel in the historic Syrian city of Palmyra and destroyed statues in a local museum, pictures posted online overnight by the group's supporters showed.

The militants seized Palmyra, known as Tadmur in Arabic and strategically significant with nearby natural gas fields and roads leading south-west to Damascus, on Wednesday after days of heavy fighting with the Syrian army.

"Tadmur citadel under the control of the caliphate," read a caption on one picture posted on social media websites. In another, a smiling fighter is shown carrying the group's black flag and standing on one of the citadel's walls. » | Reuters | Saturday, May 23, 2015

Queen Rania of Jordan Calls on Muslims to Take a Stand against ISIS and Its 'Attack on Civilisation' after Fanatics Threaten to Destroy Ancient Ruins at Palmyra

DAILY MAIL: The most influential woman in the Arab world told MailOnline that it would be an 'enormous loss to humanity' if ISIS destroyed the World Heritage Site / Insisted that ISIS' cause is nothing to do with religion but driven by nothing more than 'greed and power' / Called on Muslims and Arabs to lead the fight with support from the West / The Queen was pictured comforting the wife of Jordanian pilot Lieutenant Muath al-Kasasbeh who was burned to death by ISIS / She said it was one of the most difficult periods of her life - but that we owe an immense debt to his bravery

Queen Rania of Jordan today called on Muslims around the world to take a stand against Islamic State and its 'attacks against civilisation'.

The 44-year-old royal, who is one of the most influential women in the Arab World, spoke out as ISIS threatened to destroy the Unesco World Heritage site at Palmyra, in Syria, after over-running forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline in her home country, the Queen said: 'It's an attack on civilisation, it is the latest in the atrocities that ISIS and groups like them have committed.

'Palmyra is one of the greatest treasures in the region and indeed in the world – it shows how we're facing a global threat, not just against Arabs or Muslims, but against the entire civilised world.'

Unesco said the destruction of the ancient buildings and artefacts at Palmyra would be 'an enormous loss to humanity'. World leaders like President Francois Hollande of France have called for direct action to save them.

'I absolutely agree with that,' said the Queen, who was attending the World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea Resort in Sweimeh. » | Nabila Ramdani in Sweimeh, Dead Sea, Jordan | Saturday, May 23, 2015

Palmyra: IS Threat to 'Venice of the Sands'

Palmyra is one of the best-known ancient sites in the world

BBC AMERICA: Palmyra is in danger. As Islamic State fighters clash with Syrian government forces around the historic site, it is worth considering what the loss of this wonder, dubbed the "Venice of the Sands", would mean for the world's cultural heritage.

Palmyra is the last place anyone would expect to find a forest of stone columns and arches. Travellers in the 17th and 18th centuries were repeatedly astonished by what they saw: a vast field of ruins in the middle of the Syrian desert, roughly half-way between the Mediterranean coast and the valley of the River Euphrates.

For anyone visiting, however, the key reason for the site's prosperity is immediately apparent: ancient Palmyra sits at the edge of an oasis of date palms and gardens.

It was as a watering place on a trade route from the east that Palmyra's story begins, and the very name Palmyra refers to the date palms that still dominate the area (the origin of its Semitic name, Tadmor, is less certain; a derivation from tamar - date palm - is favoured). » | By Prof Kevin Butcher *, Warwick University | Friday, May 15, 2015

* Kevin Butcher is a Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick and a specialist in the Roman Near East. He is author of Roman Syria and the Near East (2003).