The Arch of Triumph, situated at the entrance of the ancient ruins’ historic colonnaded street, was an “icon of Palmyra”, Abdulkarim said, warning that the Daesh fighters have already laid explosives in other monuments.
Advertisement
JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images Visitors walking near the famous Arch of Triumph of the ancient oasis city of Palmyra in 2014 before ISIS took control of the city.
“The destruction of the arch today is an episode in the series of the city’s destruction”, he added.
A former antiquities official in Syria said the Islamic State is “systematically destroying the main features of the site of Palmyra” and lamented the inability of the global community to prevent the devastation.
In August, the Sunni Muslim militants blew up the temple of Baal Shamin, then the Temple of Bel, one of the best preserved Roman-era sites.
The city is a World Heritage site and the Director General of the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO, Irina Bokova, also condemned the arch’s destruction – calling it a new war crime that will not go unpunished. “They’re destroying building by building, within three to six months, at this pace, we’re going to lose Palmyra”. “IS has destroyed it”, Mohammad Hassan al-Homsi, an activist from Palmyra told AFP on Monday.
ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, destroyed another ancient landmark in the city of Palmyra, Syria, the latest monument to fall prey to the group’s destruction. UNESCO has since declared the ancient site as a World Heritage. The Temple of Bel was 2,000 years old and regarded as the greatest gem of Palmyra’s antiquities.
Called “Protecting Cultural Heritage-An Imperative for Humanity”, the initiative will see participation from UNESCO, INTERPOL and the UNODC as well as ministers from a number of UN Member States.
Advertisement
“We are living through a catastrophe”. He is the nephew of antiques scholar Khalid al-Asaad, whom many believe was executed by Islamic State militants after the city’s capture.
