REPORT: ISIS has started destroying parts of Palmyra, a major Roman-era archaeological site

BEIRUT – ISIS has destroyed two Palmyra shrines days after the group planted explosives in the UNESCO World Heritage Site as the Syrian army advances to the west of the city.

The extremist group’s Wilayat Homs media account published a report Monday evening entitled “The Elimination of Polytheist Landmarks” showing its fighters planting explosives and then blowing up two sites in Palmyra.

The group identified the first ruin it detonated as the Shrine of Mohammad Ali, while the second building was named by Alaraby Aljadeed as the Shrine of Abu Bahaeddine.

A media activist confirmed to the London-based paper that the demolition of the two shrines had taken place, saying that ISIS had “rigged the archaeological city [with explosives], after regime forces summoned reinforcements to bolster their positions near Palmyra.”

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported Tuesday that ISIS had “completely destroyed” a shrine in the city.

Fears mounted over the weekend that ISIS would move to start blowing up the historic ruins in Palmyra after the group began planting explosives through the archaeological site.

“ISIS members have planted IEDs and mines in the Ancient City of Palmyra,” the Observatory reported Sunday.

The monitoring NGO added that it is unknown “whether ISIS mined the city in order to destroy the antiquities or prevent the progress of regime forces into the city.”

The head of Syria’s Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums also told AFP that the ruins in the city had been mined.

“We have preliminary information from residents saying that this is correct, they have laid mines at the temple site,” Maamoun Abdulkarim said.

Syrian army troops in recent days have advanced in territory west of Palmyra, with the SOHR reporting Monday that they were engaged in clashes with ISIS approximately 10 kilometers outside the Bayyarat area near Palmyra.

However, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman voiced doubt in comments to AFP that the Syrian regime would conduct any offensive in the near term to try to retake the city, which ISIS seized on May 21.

Prior to the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Palmyra was one of the country’s top tourist sites, attracting tens of thousands of visitors per year from around the world seeking to see the fabled Hellenistic and Roman era ruins as well as a 13th century Mamluk fortress.

These ancient ruins, which are listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, would be threatened if ISIS took over the city.

The militant organization has shown a propensity for destroying cultural heritage sites, including the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq’s Ninevah province that ISIS fighters bulldozed in early March.

ISIS has also blown up a number of medieval mosques throughout its areas of control in Syria and Iraq as part of its policies to destroy “un-Islamic” sites.