Free Republic

The world will have to cooperate with Syria to halt the trade in looted antiquities that helps fund jihadist groups, Syria’s culture minister has said, putting the onus on Turkey to stop the smuggling across their shared frontier. Syrian Culture Minister Issam Khalil said a U.N. Security Council resolution aiming to stop groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), from benefiting from the illicit antiquities trade would not be effective without the help of Damascus, a pariah to many Arab and Western states since Syria’s war erupted in 2011. “We have the conclusive documents and evidence...

Photo: AFP In Syria, Islamists have again captured the Christian town of Maaloula. They took prisoner 12 nuns two weeks ago and have since held them in the neighbouring town of Yabroud. Meanwhile, Internet antique shops have featured offers to sell Maaloula relics. That's the way the Jabhat al-Nusra fighters are earning their daily bread. But clerics in the ancient Christian town of Maaloula continue ringing their church bells despite the ongoing fighting, blasts and the abduction of nuns.This is actually the only reminder of the once quiet life in the small town. The Islamists, - the Jabhat al-Nusra...

The millenia-old oasis city of Palmyra is being damaged in clashes between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces and rebels fighting for his overthrow in the midst of the precious archaeological site, a resident said Wednesday. Shaky amateur footage filmed by the resident shows the facade of the first century Temple of Baal with a large circle where a mortar bomb has blasted the sandstone. The columns of the great colonnade that extends from the temple have been chipped by shrapnel... Hiding in the palm groves behind the ruins, the militants creep toward the ancient site, once a vital stopping point...

Ongoing hostilities in Syria are now placing the remarkable ancient monumental ruins of Palmyra in the line of fire. Since the violence that erupted in Syria nearly one year ago -- a war that has so far left thousands dead and become one of the world's biggest stories -- the damage to the country's ancient cities and cultural sites as a result of the conflict has remained largely unknown. One report to surface last week, however, tells the story of Palmyra, where residents say the Syrian Army has set up camp in a citadel that overlooks both the modern city...

We spent a few hours deciphering Roman inscriptions when I studied Latin at school, but unfortunately not long enough for any of what I learnt to stick. Which is a pity for they yield a lot of information. When I spotted the elegantly-lettered tombstone of Cautronius, a standard-bearer of the Italian troop [I think], when I visited Lebanon last year, I thought it worthy of a photograph.* An inscription I saw in a museum in St Albans a while ago points to some interesting linkages across the Roman world, and hints at a tragic love story. It is dedicated to...

Polish and Syrian archaeologists have uncovered a 1,500-year-old Christian church in the famed Roman-era desert city of Palmyra, the director of the Palmyra museum said on Thursday. The discovery was made during a dig at the site 220 kilometres (135 miles) northeast of the capital Damascus, Walid Assaad told AFP. "Christianity came to Palmyra in the year 312, at a time when Christians had begun to build churches," he said. "And this one is huge -- the biggest ever found in Syria. It dates to the fourth or fifth centuries after Jesus Christ." The rectangular building measures 12 metres by...

Syria - Archeological Findings Palmyra- Syria 29-05 (SANA)- The Finnish archeological team working in Bashir Mount in the desert area of Palmyra ( Tadmor ) has unearthed 46 archeological sites that date back to 80,000 years B.C. Member of the team Prof. Margo Alstawt Watsing of Helsinki University said her group used sophisticated equipment to survey the mountain’s archeological traces that extend along the Euphrates River on the ancient famous Silk Road, some 180 KM east of Palmyra. She added that clay, copper, bone and granite pieces were unearthed at the scene, an indication that man had very long ago...

The European Union has imposed sanctions on a Syrian businessman who it says has bought oil for Syria from ISIS that the government in Damascus has declared to be its enemy.

We asked Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, and Aram Nerguizian, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to weigh in on the state of the Syrian army and how it can respond to the challenge from ISIS. Syria Deeply: What is the state of the Syrian army? Joshua Landis: In Damascus, ISIS has gone to war with the Islamic Front in the Ghouta area and has been squeezed out of Ghouta, and is now trying to open a new front in Qalamoun, the range of mountains near...

The leader of Islamic State has declared 'Islam is the religion of fighting' in a rare audio message which called on all Muslims to 'fight for the caliphate'. Islamic State released the message yesterday claiming it was from its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the extremist group executed 26 civilians before reaching the gates of an ancient Syrian city amid fears they could destroy it. The audio message posted on militant websites features a voice that sounds like al-Baghdadi's exhorting all Muslims to take up arms and fight on behalf of the group's self-styled caliphate. In it the leader, who...

Governor of Homs province, where city is located, says army has sent reinforcements and is bombing fighters from air.Fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have advanced on Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, one of the Middle East's most famous UNESCO heritage sites, with fierce clashes taking place close to the city's historic citadel. Photos circulating on social media sites on Saturday appeared to show intense clashes near the 13th century citadel of Fakhr-al-Din al-Ma'ani as ISIL fighters engaged the Syrian military. Talal Barazi, the governor of central Homs province, where the city is located,...

Islamic State terrorists advanced to the gates of ancient Palmyra on Thursday, raising fears the Syrian world heritage site could face destruction of the kind the jihadists have already wreaked in Iraq. As it overran nearby villages, IS executed 26 civilians - 10 of whom were beheaded - for 'collaborating with the regime,' the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Irina Bokova, head of the UN's cultural body UNESCO, called on Syrian troops and extremists to spare Palmyra, saying it 'represents an irreplaceable treasure for the Syrian people, and the world.'