Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Damascus, SANA – Syria expressed deep outrage over the destruction of Palmyra’s Baalshamin
Temple and the killing of archeologist Khaled al-Asaad by the Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria (ISIS).
Last Sunday, ISIS, which overran Tadmur city and the historical Palmyra site in May, blew up
Baalshamin Temple by a large amount of explosives, only few days after it brutally beheaded
and crucified the prominent archeologist al-Asaad.
An official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry condemned on Wednesday ISIS
crimes and attacks committed against the Syrian cultural heritage, describing them as
“barbaric”.
These crimes, the source said, again make it evident that ISIS targets the “Syrian identity
and national memory” and the Syrians’ contributions to the human civilization.
They also show the obscurantist nature of this terrorist organization that is stripped of
any civilization value, the source added.
The Ministry’s source blamed ISIS crimes on the countries in the region and the world who
have failed to abide by the Security Council’s counterterrorism resolutions, particularly
resolution no. 2199 that stipulates for protecting the archeological ruins in Syria and
Iraq.
It is this failure that has emboldened ISIS and other terrorist organizations to persist in
committing crimes against cultural heritage in the two countries, the source said.
As it expressed the Syrian people’s pride in the cultural achievements they contributed to
the humanity, the source stressed that the Syrians are now more determined than any time
before to defend these achievements.
The Syrian people, the source said, call on people of conscience in the world to come
together to preserve this cultural heritage that is the property of the entire humanity and
work for combating terrorism that has turned into a serious threat to regional and
international peace and stability and the whole human heritage.
Haifa Said
