IS destroying ancient sites
Syria monastery demolished after scholar beheaded
DAMASCUS, Syria — Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq are engaged in the “most brutal, systematic” destruction of ancient sites since World War II, the head of the U. N. cultural agency said Friday — a stark warning that came hours after militants demolished a 1,500- year- old monastery in central Syria.
The world’s only recourse is to try to prevent the sale of looted artifacts, thus cutting off a lucrative stream of income for the militants, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova told The Associated Press.
A series of recent attacks has stoked fears that IS is accelerating its campaign to demolish and loot heritage sites. On Friday, witnesses said the militants bulldozed St. Elian Monastery in central Syria. Days earlier, IS beheaded an 81year- old antiquities scholar who had dedicated his life to overseeing the ruins of Palmyra in Syria, one of the Middle East’s most spectacular archaeological sites.
Since capturing about a third of Syria and Iraq last year, IS fighters have destroyed mosques, churches and archaeological sites, causing extensive damage to the ancient cities of Nimrud, Hatra and Dura Europos in Iraq. In May, they seized Palmyra, the Roman- era city on the edge of a modern town of the same name.
“We haven’t seen something similar since the Second World War,” Bokova said of the scope of the IS campaign against ancient sites. “I think this is the biggest attempt, the most brutal systematic destruction of world heritage.”
Bokova said recent images of archaeological sites under IS control in Iraq and Syria show signs of widespread illegal digging and looting. “If you look at the maps, the photos, the satellite pictures of it, you will not recognize one place,” she said. “It is just hundreds of holes all around them.”
There is very little the world can do to stop the extremists from inflicting more damage, she said, but stopping the trafficking in artifacts must be a priority.
Bokova spoke hours after IS posted photos on social media showing bulldozers destroying the St. Elian Monastery near the town of Qaryatain. The group had captured the town in early August.
A Qaryatain resident who recently fled to Damascus said militants leveled the shrine and removed church bells. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear his relatives might be harmed, called on the United Nations to protect Christians and Christian sites.
A Catholic priest, the Rev. Jacques Mourad, who had lived at the monastery, was kidnapped in May and remains missing. According to Edward, Mourad sheltered both Muslim and Christian Syrians fleeing the fighting elsewhere in Homs province.