A number of civilians were later transferred to Raqqa province, the self-proclaimed capital of Islamic State, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group that tracks the conflict via a network of activists on the ground.
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The Mar Elian monastery in the town of Qaryatain near Homs, was captured by the terrorists from the Syrian Army two weeks ago.
Militants used bulldozers to demolish the ancient monastery in the strategic town, which sits near a road linking the ancient Roman city of Palmyra to the Qalamoun mountains, along the border with Lebanon, Newsweek reported.
The developments have stoked concerns that IS may be accelerating its campaign to destroy and loot non-Islamic and pre-Islamic heritage sites inside the vast swaths of Iraq and Syria now controlled by the militant group.
A Christian clergyman told the AP in Damascus that IS militants also wrecked a church inside the monastery that dates back to the 5th century.
Inside view of the monastery in Qaryatain, Syria-a priest, who spoke Friday on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the monastery included an Assyrian Catholic church.
The monastery’s director, Fr. Jacques Mouraud, was kidnapped last May, most likely by ISIS.
Islamic State militants have destroyed an ancient monastery in the central Syrian province of Homs, according to a monitor and pictures published by the jihadist group. He said the monastery was founded in 432. Mourad was known to help both Christians and Muslims and was preparing aid for the arrival of hundreds of refugees from Palmyra. The fate of the others is unknown.
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The attacks carried out as part of Islamic State’s campaign against idolatry have triggered world-wide concern and condemnation from groups including Unesco, the United Nations’ cultural arm.
