ISIS war on civilisation: Militants destroy ancient Syrian heritage

 ALEPPO/SYRIA (Web Desk) – ISIS militants reportedly smashed cultural treasures from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, including an artifact dating back to the second century.

According to a statement from the group and Syrian state media, ISIS allegedly destroyed the Allat god statue, a significant ancient object depicting a lion catching a deer between its feet. The statue was part of a UNESCO World Heritage site dating back 2,000 years, in Palmyra.

CNN reported that a man smuggling at least six ancient statues through Aleppo province was captured by the militants and transferred to Islamic court in the ISIS-controlled city of Manbij.

Militants shattered the relics with sledgehammers and lashed the smuggler in a public square packed with onlookers .

“ISIS terrorists have destroyed one of the most important unearthed statues in Syria in terms of quality and weight … it was discovered in 1977 and dates back to the second century AD,” Ma’moun Abdul-Karim, director of museums and antiquities, told state-run SANA news agency.

The UN cultural organization accused the ISIS of ‘cultural cleansing’ as part of a global propaganda campaign to recruit foreign fighters and dismantle the fabric of societies in the Middle East.

At least two ancient Muslim shrines in the once-monumental city were blown up by ISIS last month, weeks after it bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and took sledgehammers to statues at the Mosul Museum.