BEIRUT — Islamic State militants in Syria severely damaged the Bel Temple, considered one of the greatest sites of the ancient world, in a massive explosion Sunday, activists said.
The 2,000-year-old temple was part of the remains of the ancient caravan city of Palmyra in central Syria, seized by the Islamic State group in May.
The news of the latest destruction at Palmyra came just days after the Islamic State released propaganda images purportedly showing militants blowing up another Palmyra temple, the 2,000-year-old Baalshamin dedicated to the Phoenician god of storms and fertilizing rains.
The U.N. cultural agency UNESCO, which has designated Palmyra as a world heritage site, called the destruction of the Baalshamin temple a war crime.
Earlier this month, relatives and witnesses said that Islamic State militants had beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, an 81-year-old antiquities scholar who devoted his life to understanding Palmyra.
The Islamic State group, which has imposed a violent interpretation of Islamic law across its self-declared “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq, says such ancient relics promote idolatry.
It already has blown up several sites in neighboring Iraq, and it is also believed to be selling looted antiquities.
A Palmyra resident, who goes by the name of Nasser al-Thaer, said Islamic State militants set off a huge blast at 1:45 p.m. Sunday.
“It is total destruction,” he said of the scene of the explosion. “The bricks and columns are on the ground.”
“It was an explosion the deaf would hear,” he added.
The resident said only the outer wall surrounding the temple remains.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists in Syria, said the temple was damaged.
