IS destroys Arch of Triumph in Syria's

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.com/en/is-destroys-arch-of-triumph-in-syrias-palmyra/a-18761008



"Islamic State" militants have destroyed another monument in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. The Arch of Triumph is one of the city's most recognizable sites.

IS destroys Arch of Triumph in Syria's
05.10.2015

Syrian activists say the self-styled "Islamic State" (IS) militant group has demolished yet another treasured heritage site in Palmyra.

The destruction of the near 2,000-year-old Arch of Triumph comes after the group destroyed the shrine of Baalshamin and the Temple of Bel, regarded as Palmyra's masterpiece.

The group seized the city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in May. IS has carried out a campaign of destruction against heritage sites in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq. It beheaded Palmyra's 82-year-old former antiquities chief in mid-August.

'Systematic destruction'

"We have received news from the site that the Arch of Triumph was destroyed yesterday [Sunday]. IS booby-trapped it several weeks ago," Maamun Abdulkarim, Syria's head of antiquities, told AFP news agency.

[yeoman6987]

1. Destroying their own stuff. Yieks!

That is one crazy group.

[DetlefK]

2. They don't consider it their own stuff.

No idols. That's what they are going for, in the most extreme reading of Sunnism. These teachings originated in Saudi-Arabia.



Imagine that a house from the founding-days of Christianity were found. A house that belonged to somebody who personally met and knew Jesus Christ. Would you try to conserve that archaeological site?
A few years ago, Saudi-Arabia destroyed the house of Aisha, the wife of the prophet Mohammed, to make way for a parking-lot. Because protecting the house would have meant that it's some kind of idol.