UNESCO: Daesh Ruins Palmyra Monuments to ‘Deprive Syrians of Their Past and Future’

The destruction of Palmyra’s famed Tetrapylon and the facade of the ancient Syrian city’s Roman theatre by the terrorists of Daesh is a war crime, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said on Friday, according to the UN News Center.

“This destruction is a new war crime and an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity,” Bokova said.

Bokova called the destruction a “blow against cultural heritage” and underlined that it showed intentions of Daesh to “deprive the Syrian people of its past and its future”.

She added that one of the reasons Daesh had decided to destroy the Tetrapylon was the fact that it “testified to the specificity of Palmyrene identity, as a source of pride and dignity for all Syrians today.”

Earlier in the day, reports emerged that Daesh militants destroyed the world-known tetrapylon and parts of the Roman theater in the ancient city of Palmyra. Palmyra used to be the capital of the Palmyrene Empire and one of the richest cities of the Roman Empire. Its monuments are included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

In December, Daesh recaptured Palmyra. According to various sources, the number of terrorists that took part in the storming of the city reached 5,000 including hundreds of suicide bombers and dozens of armored vehicles.

Peskov: Tragic loss of the world cultural heritage

Meanwhile in Moscow, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that destroying the Roman Theater in Palmyra by militants of the Islamic State is a tragic loss of the world cultural heritage.

 “What is happening is a real tragedy from the viewpoint of the loss of the world cultural and historical heritage and the terrorists’ barbaric actions are continuing,” Peskov added, According to

Lavrov: Barbarians are barbarians

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that the destroying of the Roman Theater in Palmyra by Deash  terrorists is an act of barbarism, which is unacceptable for the modern civilization.

“I have seen reports the Roman Theater is blasted, I am not sure whether they are correct. What can I say? Barbarians are barbarians. This ideology and practice are absolutely unacceptable for the modern civilization,” he said.

Hermitage chief: New Palmyra destruction comes across as militants’ vengeance

On his part, Mikhail Piotrovsky, the Director General of the Russian Hermitage Museum said the new destructions of monuments in Palmyra come across as acts of the militants’ vengeance.

“We’re dealing here with the reprisals they promised long ago,” Dr. Piotrovsky said.

“It was quite some time ago probably as far back as last May that the IS radio said they would come and stage a new ‘concert’ in the theater, and now they’ve done it,” he said making a reference to a concert that the Mariinsky Theater symphony orchestra from Russia gave at the site of the Roman theater last May, soon after the militant units had been driven out the ancient city for the first time.

H.M