The self-declared Islamic State has released photos purportedly of its fighters destroying an ancient artifact in the Syrian city of Palmyra weeks after the Islamist extremists captured the city. They are then shot dead by boys, who appear to be in their teens, before an audience gathered at the heritage site. Militants reportedly forced hundreds of local residents to witness the killings.
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It is not clear when the filming took place but it was not the first such killings in the famous Roman amphitheatre.
The Greco-Roman ruins at Palmyra are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city’s capture by IS prompted worldwide concerns for the fate of its spectacular ancient treasures.
While it is unclear when the video was filmed, it was distributed through accounts known to have links with Islamic State militants. The issue was referred to an Islamic court in the Islamic State-held northern Syrian town of Manbij, which ordered that they be destroyed and the man be whipped.
IS said the men were soldiers captured in the city of Homs.
An oasis in the Syrian desert, north-east of Damascus, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.
“ISIL members on Saturday destroyed the Lion of al-Lat, which is a unique piece that is three meters (10 feet) tall and weighs 15 tons”, Abdelkarim said, adding, “It’s the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyra’s heritage”.
The video showed a long line of soldiers on their knees while masked IS militants standing behind them and pointing their guns against their heads at the theatre with a giant IS flag hung behind.
“Underlying all these executions is the apocalypse ideology of the final battle between the believers and the unbelievers”, said Jasmine Opperman, the director of Southern Africa Operations at the Terrorism, Research & Analysis Consortium.
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According to Fox News the report also details moves undertaken by the group to entice children to join, which include setting up offices “cubs of the caliphate” that recruit children to fight for ISIS.
