Islamic State militants on Sunday, August 23, blew up the temple of Baal Shamin, one of the most important sites in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, said Maamoun Abdul Karim, the country’s antiquities chief.
The temple bombing would be the first time the insurgents, who control swathes of Syria and Iraq and captured Palmyra in May, damaged monumental Roman-era ruins.
“Daesh [ISIS] placed a large quantity of explosives in the temple of Baal Shamin today and then blew it up causing much damage to the temple,” Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s antiquities chief, told Agence France-Presse, using another name for the Islamic State. “The [temple’s inner area] was destroyed and the columns around collapsed,” Washington Post reported.
“I am seeing Palmyra being destroyed in front of my eyes,” he added. “God help us in the days to come.”
A week ago, the militants beheaded Khaled Asaad, 82-year-old scholar who worked for more than 50 years as head of antiquities in Palmyra, after detaining and interrogating him for over a month.
According to New York Times , the temple stood ‘dozens of meters’ away from a Roman amphitheater where the Islamic State held a mass execution, killing 25 prisoners, in a video released last month. The entire ancient city of Palmyra is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Before the city’s capture by Islamic State, Syrian officials said they moved hundreds of ancient statues to safe locations out of concern that the militants would destroy them.
In June, Islamic State blew up two ancient shrines in Palmyra that were not part of its Roman-era structures but which the militants regarded as pagan and sacrilegious.
The militants were also beginning excavation for gold and giving licenses for illicit excavation of the city’s treasures, Abdul Karim added.
Last month, the group demolished half a dozen ancient statues, smashing them with sledge hammers, and in June they blew up two historic tombs, the NYT report added.
Feature image source: Reuters