THE TEMPLE OF BEL SHOWN TWO YEARS AGO AND AGAIN ON MONDAY AFTER JIHADISTS WERE DRIVEN FROM PALMYRA, SYRIA. EXPERTS ARE ASSESSING THE DAMAGE TO ANCIENT STRUCTURES BY ISIL.
DAMASCUS • The recapture of Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra from ISIL has brought new revelations of the destruction wreaked by the extremists, who decapitated priceless statues and smashed or looted artifacts in the city’s museum.
While Syrian f orces worked Monday to clear booby traps laid in the ancient temples, experts assessed the extent of damage in Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site boasting 2,000-year-old Roman-era colonnades and other ruins.
Syrian troops drove ISIL fighters out Sunday, 10 months after the militants seized the town. But the militants left behind landmines and explosives, which troops have begun to dismantle.
The Russian military, which backed the regime’s advance on Palmyra with airstrikes, said it would send explosives experts and specialist robots to clear the devices.
Footage of Palmyra broadcast on Russian television showed Syrian troops trying to unearth bombs buried below a road and one apparent explosive system made of rigged-up petrol containers.
It was known the militants had destroyed the Temple of Bel, which dated back to AD 32, the Temple of Baalshamin, which was several storeys high and fronted by six towering columns, and the Arch of Triumph, which was built under the Roman emperor Septimius Severus between AD 193 and AD 211.
But no one knew the extent of the damage inside the museum until a Syrian reporter entered Sunday and found the floor littered with shattered statues. A sculpture of the Greek goddess Athena was decapitated, and the museum’s basement appeared to have been bombed.
Some of the damage may have been caused by shelli ng, which would have knocked the statues from their stands.
Unlike in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where ISIL militants filmed themselves with sledgehammers proudly destroying ancient artifacts, no militant video was released from Palmyra’s museum.
Before Palmyra fell to ISIL, authorities relocated more than 400 statues and hundreds of artifacts to safe areas, but larger statues couldn’t be moved. Museum spokesman Maamoun Abdul-Karim said about 20 statues were defaced and others had their heads chopped off.
The extremist group claims ancient relics promote idolatry. But it is also believed to have profited from looted antiquities.