Alwaght- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO has strongly condemned the ISIS terrorist group for destroying an ancient temple in Syria's historical city of Palmyra, calling the heinous act a “war crime”.
In a press release, Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO said, “One week after the killing of Professor Khaled al-Assaad, the archaeologist who had looked after Palmyra's ruins for four decades, this destruction is a new war crime and an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity.” Such acts are war crimes and their perpetrators must be accountable for their actions, the Director-General added.
“The systematic destruction of cultural symbols embodying Syrian cultural diversity reveals the true intent of such attacks, which is to deprive the Syrian people of its knowledge, its identity and history, Ms. Bokova declared adding that extremists “cannot silence history”. According to UNESCO, Baalshamin temple was built nearly 2,000 years ago, and bears witness to the depth of the pre-Islamic history of the country. According to several reports, the building was blown up on Sunday 23 August. Its cella, or inner area, was severely damaged, and followed by the collapse of the surrounding columns.
Foreign-backed terrorists have been operating against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since March 2011.
Syria blames western countries led by the US and their regional allies including the Israeli regime, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for being the main backers of terrorists fighting to topple the country’s legitimate government.