Islamic State jihadists planting mines around the ancient ruins in Palmyra

Armenian Press ^ | 6/22/15

[markomalley]

Islamic State jihadists have planted mines around the ancient ruins in Syria's Palmyra, prompting fears for the Unesco World Heritage site. As Armenpress reports citing “Telegraph,” militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have reportedly carpeted parts of the Roman amphitheatre with bombs and explosives, according to Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria's antiquities chief. It was not immediately clear whether the mines had been lain in preparation for the ruins’ destruction, or as a deterrent to forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The militants seized the strategically important nearby modern town of Tadmur from government forces last month.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which draws on a network of monitors inside the country, said on Sunday that regime forces had brought reinforcements to the west of the city in recent days, possibly in preparation for a fresh assault on the city. It also said they had also launched heavy air strikes over Tadmur in the past three days, killing at least 11 people. A former resident still in contact with relatives inside the city told the Telegraph that masked jihadists had announced their intention to rig Palmyra with explosives earlier in the week, delivering the message to residents gathered in the main market square. “We will accelerate pressure on the regime, and push the international community to stop them from shelling civilians,” one of the militants reportedly said.

Bebars al-Talawy, a Homs-based activist in contact with Tadmur residents, described the ancient ruins as lying “between the hammer and the anvil, one belonging to the regime, the other to Isil.” The destruction of Palmyra’s 2,000 year old ruins would deal the heaviest blow to Syria’s cultural heritage in a four year-long war. Palmyra has been looted by government forces, damaged in fighting, and last week, a section of its north defensive wall was hit by a regime airstrike. Tadmur’s fall had prompted fears that the extremist group would seek to destroy Palmyra's UNESCO world heritage-listed ruins, as it has done with similar sites elsewhere in Syria and Iraq. But they had apparently left it untouched to date, in an attempt to curry favor with local residents over whom the jihadists are now consolidating their rule.

Instead, the amphitheatre has been revived as a stage from which the jihadists are underscoring their reign of terror. In late May, local residents were invited to the site to watch the execution of twenty people accused of being regime supporters.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria's head of antiquities department, told Reuters on Sunday that the claim that militants were laying explosives there "seems true". "The city is a hostage in their hands, the situation is dangerous," he said.

Unesco has previously expressed deep concern over reports of fighting around Palmyra, a site that once sat at the heart of the third century Queen Zenobia’s empire. Its sand-coloured ruins include colonnaded streets and the temple of Baal, a deity worshipped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities.

Syria’s civil war has all but turn the country apart. More than 230,000 Syrians have died since Mr> Assad’s forces first sought to suppress anti-government protests in March 2011. According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the war has seen 56 major massacres to date, 49 of which were carried out by government forces or allied militia.

[SampleMan]

Ancient buildings, even ruins, are so rare because mankind has a tendancy to war. The Roman Empire covered the Mediterranean basin. Most everything that existed is gone.

ISIS is right up there with the Vandals, Visigoths, and Huns. They are just late to the party.

[grania]

ISIS is right up there

Yeah, but the west has drones. These sites could be protected with "eyes from the sky".

One can only conclude that the western world wants these symbols of former great civilizations destroyed.

Beyond disgusted.

[John O]

so the mohammedans (moslems) are destroying everything that is of any value within the areas they control.

Makes it far easier to nuke them as there’s nothing there to save anyway.

[ScottinVA]

Remembering the value of what the neutron bomb would bring... saving real estate while destroying every living thing around it.

[Steven Tyler]

http://looklex.com/e.o/ridda_ar.htm

Lot’s of sites discuss the Muslim Apostasy Wars.
It’s all about the killing, sex, violence, and rape

War in Arabia 632-636, between the Muslims of Mecca and tribes around the peninsula.
With the death of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, in 632, communities in the outskirts of the early Muslim heartland refused to accept the supremacy of the new Muslim ruler, Caliph Abu Bakr. ....When the war is named Ar-Ridda, this means “Apostasy War”.

There are at least two explanations to the war. One states that there were several prophets in Arabia, who did would not accept the legitimacy of Muhammad and his followers. These used the death of Muhammad to try to break free from the control of Mecca.
The other explanation is that local rulers that were forced to formally become Muslims by armed missionaries had in reality not accepted Islam, nor the Islamic leaders. Their rebellion against Mecca was merely a war to reclaim lost independence.

[SampleMan]

You can’t defend places on the ground from the air, unless you are also defending them from the ground. We could be flying alpha strikes every day and we couldn’t protect them.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks markomalley. Gosh, this is going to be rough on Syrian tourism.