“This ISIS and extremists, terrorists, they have been not only killing brutally people, they’ve been destroying the human civilization’s heritages – thousands-year-long heritages – which should be a common asset of whole humanity even though one may belong to Syria or elsewhere”, Ban said, using an acronym for Islamic State. When they swept victoriously into Palmyra, they emphasized the care taken by the army not to harm the archaeological sites. And as propaganda tool, ISIS got to flex its military muscle by wiping out these ancient treasures with virtual impunity.
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Captured Syrian army soldiers were reported to have been slaughtered in the city’s ancient Roman amphitheater, and hundreds more government officials, medical personnel and women and children from tribal groups despised by ISIS were killed in the streets and on the outskirts of the city.
After Palmyra’s recapture from ISIS, Syrian antiquities experts said Monday they were deeply shocked by the destruction the extremists had carried out inside the town museum, with scores of priceless relics and statues demolished.
Last May, Palmyra fell to the IS, which destroyed the city’s military prison along with several Islamic tombs.
A day earlier, Putin congratulated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on recovering Palmyra, according to the Syrian state news agency, SANA.
“If we have UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation)’s approval, we will need five years to restore the structures damaged or destroyed by IS (Daesh)”, Ma’amoun Abdulkarim said on Monday. It’s not because Palmyra has been retaken from Daesh (IS group) that the war is over.
Located in central Syria, Palmyra is a UNESCO world heritage site, and features 2,000-year-old Roman-era colonnades and other artifacts.
The Syrian Army’s General Command said that defeating the IS in Palmyra is just the beginning of an anticipated domino effect leading to the militant group’s total collapse.
“We were expecting the worst”, Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s antiquities chief, told Agence France-Presse.
Russian Federation said it would assist with securing and removing landmines in Palmyra following the campaign, but is still showing signs of its partial withdrawal from Syria. “Yes, we lost part of the original but we didn’t totally lose them”.
The seizure of the UNESCO World Heritage site on Sunday by forces fighting for Assad delivered the biggest blow so far to Islamic State jihadists and is a major coup both for Damascus and Moscow.
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Azm says while laying siege to enemies controlling Syrian land, the government has been undiscerning in its attacks.
