Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Damascus, SANA – The report issued by Archaeology and Museums General Directorate shows the volume of destruction the Syrian archaeological sites witnessed during the past quarter of 2014, where hundreds of sites have been tragically destroyed.
Director of the Archaeology and Museums General Directorate Mamoun Abdelkarim told SANA that the archaeological sites have been prone to four main sorts of damage; the terrorist attacks, the secret excavations of armed smugglers, destruction of ancient stone buildings for constructing houses and the perpetration of attacks against shrines and sculptures on the basis of obscurantist ideologies.
Aleppo Old City was damaged the most due to the terrorist attacks, where 193 archeological sites were affected with various levels of harm, Abdelkarim said.
He pointed out that damage that occurred to other sites in Old Homs, Busra and Palmyra are somehow under control if compared to Aleppo.
The stealing of antiquities and the arbitrary excavation of archeological sites have thrived in several sites such as Mary and Dora Eurupos in Deir-Ezzor, Aphamia in Hama and al-Yarmouk Valley in Daraa, Abdelkarim said, adding that these sites are being burglarized and destroyed by the terrorist “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) organization.
The Director continued to say that the third sort of damage – the destruction of ancient stone buildings for constructing houses- is a dangerous phenomenon that is growing dramatically in some areas, “gangs break archeological sites and transform them into small stones so that to be sold, particularly in the ‘Forgotten Cities’ in the northern city of Idleb.”
“The Directorate along with popular figures exerted remarkable efforts for curbing this phenomenon,” he added.
“The Takfiri and ISIS terrorists targeted scores of shrines and archeological sculptures that date back to pre-Islam eras,” Abdelkarim added .
Hundreds of archeological sites in the eastern, northern and southern areas, less in the central, areas were prone to damage, according the official, yet the local community in all provinces is cooperating with the Directorate for curbing the excavation and the demolishing of the sites.
R. Milhem/ Barry
