ISIS commits cultural cleansing
Damascus/Beirut, Jan. 20: The head of the United Nations cultural agency on Friday said that the destruction of the Tetrapylon and the facade of the Roman Theatre in the Syrian city of Palmyra by Islamic State militants was a “new war crime.”
“This destruction is a new war crime and an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity,” UNESCO director general Irina Bokova said in a statement. “This new blow against cultural heritage, just a few hours after UNESCO received reports about mass executions in the theatre, shows that cultural cleansing led by violent extremists is seeking to destroy both human lives and historical monuments in order to deprive the Syrian people of its past and its future,” she added.
Besides the famous Tetrapylon, the Islamic State militants have destroyed other monuments in the ancient city of Palmyra, and the facade of its Roman Theatre, Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said.
The Syrian government lost control of Palmyra to the ISIS in December, the second time the militant group had overrun the UNESCO world heritage site in the six-year-long Syrian conflict.
The Tetrapylon, marking a slight bend along Palmyra’s grand colonnade, comprises a square stone platform with matching structures of four columns positioned at each of its corners.
Satellite imagery sent by Abdulkarim to Reuters showed it largely destroyed, with only four of 16 columns still standing and the stone platform apparently covered in rubble.
The imagery also showed extensive damage at the Roman Theatre, with several towering stone structures destroyed on the stage. Just last May, a famous Russian orchestra performed at the theater after Palmyra was first won back from the ISIS.
Mr Abdulkarim said if the ISIS remained in control of Palmyra “it means more destruction”. He said the destruction took place sometime between December 26 and January 10, according to the satellite imagery of the site.
The ISIS had previously captured Palmyra in 2015. It held the city for 10 months.