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Syria: ISIS blows up Arch of Triumph in Palmyra

ISIS extremists have blown up the famous Arch of Triumph in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra as they press their campaign to tear down the treasured heritage site, AFP reported.
The militants have carried out a sustained campaign of destruction against heritage sites in areas under their control in Syria and Iraq, and in mid-August beheaded Palmyra’s 82-year-old former antiquities chief.
Known as the “Pearl of the Desert”, the ancient oasis town of Palmyra situated about 210 kilometres (130 miles) northeast of Damascus became famous as a stopping point for caravans travelling on the Silk Road.

 

A satellite image with the Temple of Bel seen in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra
Both the citadel and the ruins are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and before the war around 150,000 tourists a year visited Palmyra.
Sunni extremist group ISIS has already destroyed the shrine of Baal Shamin and the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel, regarded as Palmyra’s masterpiece, as part of a campaign to destroy pre-Islamic monuments, tombs and statues it considers idolatrous.
Experts say the militants have used the destruction to raise their profile to attract new recruits, and are also funding their “caliphate” by selling artefacts on the black market.
Syria’s archaeology association, the APSA, says that more than 900 monuments and archaeological sites have been looted, damaged or destroyed during the four-year civil war.

 

– ’Catastrophe’ –

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group and local activist Mohammad Hassan al-Homsi backed up the account, saying the arch had been ruined.
“The Arch of Triumph was pulverised. ISIS has destroyed it,” said Homsi.
Palmyra’s ancient citadel has also been damaged by heavy bombardment from barrel bombs dropped by Syrian government forces, according to experts and activists.
IS has taken advantage of the chaos in Syria caused by its four-year long civil war, which has killed more than 240,000 people and sent millions fleeing, to expand its influence in the country.
A year-long US-led air campaign has been unable to stop the militants, and Russia five days ago started its own strikes against what it said are targets belonging to IS and other jihadist groups.
Western powers have accused Russia of instead targeting moderate opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an important ally of Moscow.

 

 

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