Photos posted online by Islamic State on Tuesday claim to show the destruction of a 2,000-year-old temple at the Syrian world heritage site of Palmyra earlier this week. Different smaller wired cans lay across the temple partitions and columns. Then an image shows a grey plume of smoke rising above the temple from a distance, and then an image of the temple reduced to a pile of rocks. Arabic at bottom reads, “The moment of detonation of the pagan Baalshamin temple in the city of Palmyra”.
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The Related Press couldn’t independently confirm the pictures. The images also corresponded to prior AP reporting.
The militants blew up the temple of Baal Shamin on Sunday, according to the Syrian antiquities chief. “An act of new war crime and an enormous loss for the Syrian people and for humanity”, she said, calling upon the worldwide community to fight against the destruction of historical and cultural sites.
The UN condemned the demolition as a “war crime”, coming days after Isil beheaded Palmyra’s elderly antiquities director.
The temple, a construction of big stone blocks a number of tales excessive fronted by six towering columns, was devoted to a god of storm and rain – the identify means actually “Lord of the Heavens”. It was part of a sprawling Roman-era complex that includes other remains of temples to local gods and goddesses, including the even larger and slightly older Temple of Bel. Specialists and residents worry the group will destroy the opposite ruins. However, they are also believed to sell off looted antiquities, bringing in significant sums of cash.
The Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has a never-ending list of atrocities committed against individuals, religious and cultural groups, as well as world heritage sites.
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“If Palmyra continues under the control of this group, I am sure we have lost Palmyra”, he added.
