UN calls ISIS Palmyra temple destruction war crime

By Abdul Kuddus, based in New Delhi, India

The cultural arm of the United Nations condemned the destruction of the 2,000-year-old Baal Shamin temple at the Syrian site of Palmyra, calling it a war crime.

Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova said in a statement that extremists cannot silence history and such wanton destruction of historical sites constitutes war crimes and the perpetrators must be held accountable for such actions.

Reportedly, Daesh, an ISIS affiliate group destroyed the ancient Greco-Roman site soon after killing the 82-year-old retired chief archaeologist of Palmyra, Khaled al-Assad, who had spent four decades in preserving the heritage.

Reportedly, Daesh used massive quantity of explosives and then blew up the Palmyra temple.

According to Fox News, the Islamic State released propaganda images showing extremists rigging the site with explosives and blowing it up.

The blast was so powerful that it damaged some of the Roman columns around it. The majestic ruins of the old Roman city now a specter of barbaric destruction.

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The Palmyra temple was a popular tourist site until the ISIS takeover. The ISIS takeover of Palmyra and the nearby modern town of Tadmur in May had already prompted speculations over the imminent threat to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Noting the destruction, Press TV reported:

“Palmyra was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world. In the 1st and 2nd centuries, Palmyra was the crossroads of several civilizations, combining Greco-Roman architectural techniques with local tradition and Persian influences. Today it signals the end of civilization with the wanton destruction of human heritage.”

According to the Huffington Post, “The temple dates to the first century and is dedicated to the Phoenician god of storms and fertilizing rains.”

The world heritage site stood witness to the depth of the pre-Islamic history in Syria.

The conflict between ISIS extremists and Syrian regime beginning 2011 has taken a massive toll on a number of ancient sites and artifacts.

The ISIS extremists justified the destruction of shrines and temples on the pretext of banning idolatry. However, the ulterior motive is money because they reportedly sell the antiquities in the black market for cash.

Notably, the destruction of large number of shrines in the conflict zones spanning Iraq and Syria are not just confined to non-Islamic shrines and monuments.

According to Professor Clemens Reichel, Associate Curator for the Ancient Near East at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto:

“The major targets, or the absolute largest number of monuments and shrines that have been destroyed by ISIS has not been Christian or antique shrines, it’s been Islamic shrines. So it’s a warfare not just against other religions and ethnicities, it’s a warfare against their own people: it’s wiping out all identities, all traditions, anything that would basically make humanity, human.”