ISIS militants behead 82-year-old archaeologist in Palmyra

“In June, Islamic State did blow up two ancient shrines in Palmyra that were not part of its Roman-era structures but which the militants regarded as pagan and sacrilegio

Ed-note (Sabba) – It is only pagan and sacrilegious to judaism, not Islam nor Christianity I might add. Remember what the good jews who burnt the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish wrote on the walls (something like ‘idols will have their heads chopped off’).

Islam has been the main religion in this part of the world for a good 1400 years and no one, no ruler, whether shia or sunni, no scholar whether shia, traditionalist sunni, sufi etc., no one has ever had a problem with the innumerable archaeological sites which cover the middle East like a carpet.

For those who have not studied or simply read the Last Testament of God – the Quran – , it is full of stories/histories of ancient people, ancient civilizations which have disappeared and of whom only the names remain.

The traces of their presence and grandeur have been kept standing for a very good reason: all throughout the Quran, we hear God urging us to travel the world, to go and visit those places to see for ourselves what their fate had been.

(I would like to add here that the Quran is not a History book and all the stories related are never for the sake of it but always for a specific spiritual purpose).

This has judaism footprints and bloody signature all over it, whether up-front judaism or judaism with an islamic mask.

I can not even comment on the murder of this venerable scholar. I just have no words left for it.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

JERUSALEM POST – ISIS militants beheaded an antiquities scholar in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra and hung his body on a column in a main square of the historic site, Syria’s antiquities chief said on Tuesday (August 19).

IS, whose insurgents control swathes of Syria and Iraq, captured Palmyra in central Syria from government forces in May, but are not known to have damaged its monumental Roman-era ruins despite their reputation for destroying artefacts they view as idolatrous under their puritanical interpretation of Islam.

Syrian state antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said the family of Khaled Asaad had informed him that the 82-year-old scholar who worked for over 50 years as head of antiquities in Palmyra was executed by Islamic State on Tuesday.

Asaad had been detained and interrogated for over a month by the ultra-radical Sunni Muslim militants, he told Reuters.

Abdulkarim said Asaad was known for several scholarly works published in international archaeological journals on Palmyra, which in antiquity flourished as an important trading hub along the Silk Road.

He also worked over the past few decades with U.S., French, German and Swiss archeological missions on excavations and research in Palmyra’s famed 2,000 year-old ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site including Roman tombs and the Temple of Bel.

Before the city’s capture by Islamic State, Syrian officials said they moved hundreds of ancient statues to safe locations out of concern they would be destroyed by the militants.

In June, Islamic State did blow up two ancient shrines in Palmyra that were not part of its Roman-era structures but which the militants regarded as pagan and sacrilegious.