ISIS Destroys Ancient Temple In Palmyra

The extremist militant group ISIS, or ISIL, has destroyed an ancient temple in Palmyra, Syria.

ISIS DESTROYS ANCIENT TEMPLE

On May 21, ISIS took control of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria. On Aug. 25 the group released photos of the destruction of the ancient temple Baalshamin in Palmyra that has stood for 2,000 years.

“It’s really one of those artifacts from the crossroads of civilization. I mean, this predates the dawning of Islam, and this is partly why ISIS claims it wants to destroy it, and destroy what they see as sort of pagan temples and artifacts that are left over,” State Department correspondent, Margaret Brennan, stated on CBSN.

On Aug. 18, Khaled al-As’ad, the former general manager of antiquities and museums in Palmyra, was publicly beheaded for refusing to reveal the location of valuable antiquities. ISIS has been selling these ancient artifacts on the black market to fund their group.

Syria’s director-general of antiquities and museums, Maamoun Abdulkarim, was told by a source that ISIS members rigged the temple with explosives and detonated them, CNN reported.

“They destroyed an incredibly important architectural structure,” Abdulkarim explained. “It is the first structure in the Palmyra complex to be destroyed, although they recently destroyed two Islamic shrines nearby. They said they would destroy the statues but not the structures themselves inside Palmyra. They lied.”

This is not the first time ISIS has obliterated an important, ancient, archeological site. In March and April ISIS released videos showing the destruction of the city of Nimrud.

UNESCO is calling these acts ‘war crimes,’ but there is little they can do to stop them.