Worst fears confirmed as famed Syria’s Palmyra temple flattened

Satellite images show the main temple in Syria’s Palmyra has been flattened, confirming the worst fears for the ancient ruins held by the Islamic State group.

The destruction of the Temple of Bel sparked outrage and international headlines, precisely the reaction the jihadist group may have been seeking, experts said. Dozens of relics remain at risk in the ruins of Palmyra, which IS jihadists seized from regime forces in May as they pursued their campaign for territory in Syria and Iraq. The extremist group’s harsh philosophy condemns pre-Islamic religious sites and considers statues and grave markers to be idolatrous, but it has also been accused of destroying heritage to loot items for the black market and to gain publicity.

Satellite images taken before and after an explosion at Palmyra on Sunday “confirm the destruction of the main Temple of Bel as well as a row of columns in its immediate vicinity,” UN training and research agency UNITAR said late Monday.

The 2,000-year-old temple was the centrepiece of Palmyra’s famed ruins and one of the most important relics at the UNESCO-listed heritage site.

“The Temple of Bel was the most beautiful symbol of all of Syria. It was the most beautiful place to visit,” Syrian antiquities director Maamoun Abdulkarim told AFP by telephone from Damascus.

“And we have lost it forever.” 

IS fighters seized Palmyra from Syrian regime forces on May 21, immediately sparking fears for the city’s ruins and historic sites. While antiquities staff evacuated most of the city’s museum before IS arrived, the group destroyed an ornate lion statue outside the building and also mined Palmyra’s ruins. Last month the jihadists beheaded the 82-year old former antiquities chief in Palmyra and destroyed the ancient shrine of Baal Shamin.

Activists and a monitor on Sunday reported a large explosion at the site had destroyed the Temple of Bel. Abdulkarim said Palmyra’s remaining ruins, which lie in the southwest of the city, include “dozens of the greatest grave markers, the amphitheatre, and the Temple of Nabu, which only has its foundations.”