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Syrian archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad was beheaded by the Islamic State on this date in 2015 for refusing them the ancient artifacts of his native Palmyra. Eighty-two years old — Palmyra was still a French colony at the time of this birth — Al-Asaad was involved in excavations around that city throughout his adult life. He became the custodian of the archaeological site in 1963 and held the post for 40 years. When the Salafist militant army rolled up on his oasis city that spring.* he helped to evacuate the town’s museum and Daesh put him to torture to extract the...

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Association, announced a number of resolutions just before the weekend started. One, submitted by the Russian Federation, called for defining UNESCO’s role in safeguarding and preserving Palmyra and other Syrian World Heritage sites. Another was about “Enhancing UNESCO’s contributions to promote a culture of mutual respect and tolerance.” A third was simply entitled “Occupied Palestine” and addressed the Jerusalem Old City hotspot that Jews refer to as the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram Al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary. Except that the Jewish link to the site, considered the holiest place for Jews,...

The Russian and Syrian governments announced that they are moving on to the next stage in reconstructing the ancient temple of the pagan god Ba’al in Palmyra. If successful, the project will necessarily mark the third incarnation of the Roman Victory Arch of Palmyra which an ancient Jewish source states must fall and be rebuilt three times before the arrival of the Messiah. On Wednesday, the Syrian Trust for Development, Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums and the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences signed an agreement to start the second phase of the project for...

Palmyra’s seen a lot of contention during the coronavirus pandemic. First, the local restaurant “Taste of Sicily” was fined for non-compliance with the governor’s bans on indoor dining. More recently, school board meetings have gotten hot and heavy with debates over pandemic policies, to the point where district administrators opted to only take public comment virtually at a September board meeting, and a group of high school students protested against the statewide mask mandate for schools. Is it really any surprise then, that a hotly-contested school board election would follow? It has, but, in a twist, the pandemic is now...

Palmyra Area School District Superintendent Bernie Kepler pushed back Friday against the tone of a social media debate that suggested Palmyra High School students who have refused to follow the state Health Secretary’s in-school mask mandate were being segregated from the rest of the student body in the school’s weight training room. The original post seemed to be intended as a salute to the students for their courage in standing up for their rights through the past week, when a short-term deal arranged to let them continue to come to school without masks expired. But, as is often the case,...

Pennsylvania restaurant owners who were fined roughly $10,000 for opening their doors in defiance of coronavirus restrictions have been deemed not guilty. A judge in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, found Taste of Sicily not guilty in its fight against the Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus restrictions, according to Local 21 News Harrisburg. “The crux of the legal argument is that orders that have been issued by the Governor and The Department of Health are legally unenforceable. Judge Garvey agreed with that argument,” the restaurant’s lawyer Eric Winter said. The restaurant, co-owned by siblings Michael Mangano and Christine Wartluft, opened in May...

Palmyra before and after ISISPALMYRA, Syria – The Syrian city of Palmyra stood for decades as a shining example of ancient civilization, a caravan stop on the Silk Road that served as the capital of Queen Zenobia’s empire. The city’s meticulously preserved Greco-Roman ruins landed it UNESCO World Heritage Site status, making it a top tourist attraction in the Middle East and a mecca for archaeologists and historians. Now the city once known for its priceless ancient art and artifacts has been ravaged by ISIS, the terror group that has defiantly destroyed the cultural heritage of the lands they occupy....

First look inside one of world’s most magical ancient ruins – now utterly destroyed by ISIS Palmyra before and after ISIS PALMYRA, Syria – The Syrian city of Palmyra stood for decades as a shining example of ancient civilization, a caravan stop on the Silk Road that served as the capital of Queen Zenobia’s empire. The city’s meticulously preserved Greco-Roman ruins landed it UNESCO World Heritage Site status, making it a top tourist attraction in the Middle East and a mecca for archaeologists and historians. Now the city once known for its priceless ancient art and artifacts has been ravaged...

These dramatic aerial images show how ISIS seems hell bent on destroying the last remaining UNESCO treasures in Palmyra after recapturing the city. Drone footage captured by Russia's military shows how ancient monuments in the Syrian UNESCO World Heritage Site have been reduced to rubble by the terror group. The black-and-white video dated February 5 shows part of the Roman amphitheatre collapsed and the tetrapylon, a 16-columned structure that marked one end of the ancient city's colonnade, wiped out

Some of the ambiguity and mystery surrounding the nature of President-elect Donald Trump’s relations with Russia’s Vladimir Putin may disperse after the new US president takes office, because one of their first joint military actions is ready to go. Military and intelligence sources disclose exclusively that a combined US, Russian, Syrian and Jordanian force is preparing for a major operation to liberate the Syrian heritage town of Palmyra from the Islamic State. Its capture by this allied force would have important ramifications: It would isolate the ISIS forces dug in in northern and central Syria and disconnect them from the...

President Obama’s announcement of a waiver for arming unspecified rebel groups in Syria came shortly before the terrorist group Islamic State launched a massive attack on Palmyra. Syrian President Bashar Assad believes it was no coincidence, he told RT. "The announcement of the lifting of that embargo is related directly to the attack on Palmyra and to the support of other terrorists outside Aleppo, because when they are defeated in Aleppo, the United States and the West, they need to support their proxies somewhere else," he said. "The crux of that announcement is to create more chaos, because the United...

Palmyra: 'Chemical gas attack' hits IS-held Syrian area 12 December 2016 Dozens of people have been killed in air strikes and a suspected gas attack near the Syrian city of Palmyra, monitoring groups say. The targeted area is controlled by the so-called Islamic State group and has been under heavy bombardment from government-aligned forces. Dozens of people are said to have been killed during the combined assaults. IS members recaptured the city on Sunday, hours after Russian air strikes appeared to have driven them back. Sources in Hama province reported seeing dead bodies with no visible injuries, according to the...

Model of Palmyra’s Arch of Triumph, an 1,800-year-old Roman arch blown up by the extremist group last year, was made using 3D printing technology The arch historically served as the entrance to the 2,000 Temple of Baal, which was then converted to a Christian church and finally, a mosque. First put on display in Trafalgar Square in London last April, it will stay at City Hall park for one week, before moving to its next destination, Dubai. The 11-tonne arch was placed in the small park directly outside of New York’s city hall, in the heart of the financial district....

Helicopter was brought down with aid of American TOW antitank missile system, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported

PALMYRA, Syria — Russia has made its mark on Syria with the crash of bombs and the thud of artillery. On Thursday the Russians added gentler sounds: live classical music echoing through an ancient stone theater and into the eerie, empty desert. Extending its soft power into the Syrian conflict, Russia deployed a symphony orchestra led by one of its best-known conductors, Valery Gergiev, and the cellist Sergei P. Roldugin, Their performance space was Palmyra, the city of ruins left by Roman and other ancient civilizations and ruined further by the depredations of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS...

Russian orchestra, conducted by the theater's Artistic and General Director Valery Gergiev, is holding a "Pray for Palmyra. Music Revives Ancient Ruins" concert on the stage of Palmyra's historic amphitheater. According to Syrian Culture Minister Issam Khalil, the concert of the Russian world-renowned Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra in the Syrian city of Palmyra is dedicated to the upcoming Victory Day.

A renowned Russian conductor will perform in the ruins of Palmyra in Syria on Thursday, Russian media say. Valery Gergiev, who supported Vladimir Putin's presidential run in 2012, will perform at Palmyra's Roman Theatre, Rossiya 24 reported. Syrian forces, backed by Russian air strikes, took back Palmyra from the so-called Islamic State (IS) in March. Last July, IS posted footage online showing some of its fighters carrying out killings in the ancient theatre. Rossiya 24 said the concert would be broadcast on Russian television later on Thursday. Mr Gergiev travelled to Syria with the Symphony Orchestra of St Petersburg's Mariinsky...

Violent political Islamists intentionally target irreplaceable archeological and historical sites for sensational obliteration. Internet videos record the ISIS's calculated destruction of Syria's city of Palmyra. Prior to Palmyra, Nimrud (northern Iraq) was bulldozed before cameras. Jonah's Tomb (Jonah and the Whale), located in a mosque in the ISIS occupied city of Mosul, was blown to bits. ISIS radicals said Jonah's presence in the mosque was an apostasy. Like beheading Arab Christians, raping Yazidi women, murdering captured Iraqi soldiers and burning alive a Sunni Muslim Jordanian Air Force officer -- all acts of heinous, premeditated cruelty -- violent Islamists see destroying...

The main reason I don't get sucked into conspiracy theories is that my own brain creates them so easily that they never truly impress me. They're usually built on taking a few coincidences or lapses in data, and combining these with sinister motives presumed a priori. But this is still just plain "ick." A lot of alternative news sources are covering the fact that the Temple of Baal, destroyed by ISIS, will not only be rebuilt, but "temporary" facsimile structures will be built in New York, London and elsewhere. http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/temple-of-baal-to-go-up-in-new-york-london/ You probably have read news reports about how saddened the...

I am about to share with you some absolutely astounding information. It turns out that the exact day when reproductions of the arch that stood in front of the Temple of Baal are going to be erected in Times Square in New York City and in Trafalgar Square in London is also the exact day when a very important occult festival related to the worship of Baal begins. April 19th is the first day of a 13 day period of time known as "the Blood Sacrifice to the Beast" that culminates on the high occult holy day of Beltane on...