Syrian experts shocked by damage inside Palmyra’s museum

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian antiquities experts expressed shock Monday at the destruction the Islamic State group wrought inside Palmyra’s museum, where scores of artifacts were smashed before troops drove the extremists out of the historic town.

Syria’s head of antiquities and museums, Maamoun Abdul-Karim, told The Associated Press that a team from his department will head to Palmyra later in the day to estimate the losses. Abdul-Karim said he would go himself once bomb squads finish removing explosives planted by the extremists before they lost the town.

The recapture of Palmyra by Syrian government forces on Sunday was an important victory over IS fighters who had waged a 10-month reign of terror there. It also marked the first major defeat for the extremist group since an international agreement to battle terrorism in the fractured nation took effect last year.

During their rule of Palmyra, the extremists demolished some of its best-known artifacts and monuments, including two large temples dating back more than 1,800 years and a Roman triumphal archway. The sprawling outdoor site was one of Syria’s main tourist attractions before the civil war.

IS also killed scores of people, including the archaeological site’s 81-year-old director, Khaled al-Asaad, who was beheaded in August after he reportedly refused to divulge where authorities had hidden some of the treasures before IS captured the town. The militants also demolished Palmyra’s infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of government opponents were reportedly tortured.

The Sunni extremist group, which has imposed a violent interpretation of Islamic law across the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq, claims ancient relics promote idolatry and says it is destroying them as part of a purge of paganism — though it is also believed to have sold looted antiquities to finance its operations.

Speaking to the AP over the phone, Abdul-Karim said experts still need “many days” to determine the full extent of the damage.

Before Palmyra fell to IS, authorities were able to rescue more than 400 statues and hundreds of artifacts that were moved to safe areas, he said, but larger statues couldn’t be moved.

On Sunday, state TV showed the rubble left over from the destruction of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, as well as the damaged archway, the supports of which are still standing.

Artifacts inside the city’s museum also appeared heavily damaged on state TV. A sculpture of the Greek goddess Athena was decapitated, and the museum’s basement appeared to have been dynamited, the hall littered with broken statues.