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HomeUncategorized‘Very Doubtful’ Palmyra can be restored after ISIS: UN Expert

‘Very Doubtful’ Palmyra can be restored after ISIS: UN Expert

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A Syrian expert for the UN’s cultural body said today she was “very doubtful” the destruction caused to Palmyra’s ancient monuments during its occupation by ISIS can be repaired.

ISIS-AV“Everyone is excited because Palmyra has been ‘liberated’, but we should not forget everything that has been destroyed,” said Annie Sartre-Fauriat, who belongs to a group of experts on Syrian heritage set up by UNESCO in 2013.

“I am very doubtful about the capacity, even with international aid, of rebuilding the site at Palmyra,” she said.
“When I hear that we are going to reconstruct the temple of Bel, that seems illusory. We are not going to rebuild something that has been reduced to dust. Rebuild what? A new temple? I think there are probably other priorities in Syria before rebuilding ruins.”

The Russian-backed Syrian army ousted ISIS from Palmyra on Sunday at the climax of a three-week offensive.

During its 10-month occupation, ISIS destroyed the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel and shrine of Baal Shamin, a dozen of the city’s best-preserved tower tombs and the Arch of Triumph dating from around 200 AD.

Sartre-Fauriat’s assessment contrasts with the slightly more upbeat view of Syria’s head of antiquities, Maamoun Abdulkarim, who told AFP on Monday that 80 percent of the city’s ruins were in “good shape” and would need five years to restore.

“As long as the Syrian army is there, I am not reassured,” said Sartre-Fauriat. “We should not forget that the army occupied the site between 2012 and 2015 and caused a lot of destruction and pillaging.

“We should not kid ourselves. It’s not because Palmyra has been retaken from Daesh (ISIS) that the war is over. This was a political and media operation designed to win over public opinion for the regime of (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad,” she added.

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