The Islamic State (IS) group published a series of photos on Tuesday purporting to show the destruction of the famed Baal Shamin temple in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, an act that UNESCO has condemned as a war crime.
Five photos were distributed on social media showing explosives being carried inside, being planted around the walls of the temple, a large blast and then rubble.
Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said the images did appear to show the destruction of the Roman-era temple and correlated with reports given by local residents.
FRANCE 24’s specialist on jihadist networks, Wassim Nasr, also verified the photos’ authenticity.
UN cultural watchdog UNESCO described Baal Shamin and Palmyra's surrounding sites as symbols of Syria's historical cultural diversity, which it says the IS group is seeking to obliterate.
"This destruction is a new war crime and an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity," said UNESCO’s Irina Bokova, calling for the perpetrators to be held accountable.
"Daesh [IS] is killing people and destroying sites, but cannot silence history and will ultimately fail to erase this great culture from the memory of the world," Bokova added in a statement.
The temple’s tragic destruction came just days after Syria’s antiquities chief said that the IS group had beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, an 82-year-old Syrian archaeologist who had looked after Palmyra’s ruins for the past four decades.
Read more:
http://www.france24.com/en/20150825-syria-islamic-state-group-photos-destruction-ancient-baal-shamin-temple-palmyra
