Damascus, SANA – Syria expressed deep outrage over the destruction of Palmyra’s Baalshami Temple and the killing of archeologist Khaled al-Asaad by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Last Sunday, ISIS, which overran Tadmur city and the historical Palmyra site in May, blew up Baalshamin Temple by a large amount of explosives, only few days after it brutally beheaded and crucified the prominent archeologist al-Asaad.

An official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry condemned on Wednesday ISIS crimes and attacks committed against the Syrian cultural heritage, describing them as “barbaric”.

These crimes, the source said, again make it evident that ISIS targets the “Syrian identity and national memory” and the Syrians’ contributions to the human civilization.

They also show the obscurantist nature of this terrorist organization that is stripped of any civilization value, the source added.

The Ministry’s source blamed ISIS crimes on the countries in the region and the world who have failed to abide by the Security Council’s counterterrorism resolutions, particularly resolution no. 2199 that stipulates for protecting the archeological ruins in Syria and Iraq.

It is this failure that has emboldened ISIS and other terrorist organizations to persist in committing crimes against cultural heritage in the two countries, the source said.

As it expressed the Syrian people’s pride in the cultural achievements they contributed to the humanity, the source stressed that the Syrians are now more determined than any time before to defend these achievements.

The Syrian people, the source said, call on people of conscience in the world to come together to preserve this cultural heritage that is the property of the entire humanity and work for combating terrorism that has turned into a serious threat to regional and international peace and stability and the whole human heritage.

Haifa Said