Historic statues and artifacts have been moved out of ancient Syrian city Palmyra to locations safe from the Islamic State terrorists who captured the UNESCO World Heritage site on Wednesday, Syria's antiquities chief told Reuters.

"Hundreds and hundreds of statues we were worried would be smashed and sold are all now in safe places," he said. "The fear is for the museum and the large monuments that cannot be moved," Maamoun Abdulkarim said. "This is the entire world's battle."