While we're on the subject of the war in Syria

MORE BAD NEWS FROM SYRIA:

The destruction of the idols: Syria’s patrimony at risk from extremists

The country’s wealth of archaeological treasures is under threat both from iconoclastic Islamic fundamentalists and looters operating amid the lawlessness of war

Patrick Cockburn (The Independent) Damascus

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Islamic fundamentalists in Syria have started to destroy archaeological treasures such as Byzantine mosaics and Greek and Roman statues because their portrayal of human beings is contrary to their religious beliefs. The systematic destruction of antiquities may be the worst disaster to ancient monuments since the Taliban in Afghanistan dynamited the giant statues of Buddha at Bamiyan in 2001 for similar ideological reasons.

In mid-January the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), an al-Qa’ida-type movement controlling much of north-east Syria, blew up and destroyed a sixth-century Byzantine mosaic near the city of Raqqa on the Euphrates. The official head of antiquities for Raqqa province, who has fled to Damascus and does not want his name published, told The Independent: “It happened between 12 and 15 days ago. A Turkish businessman had come to Raqqa to try to buy the mosaic. This alerted them [Isis] to its existence and they came and blew it up. It is completely lost.”

Other sites destroyed by Islamic fundamentalists include the reliefs carved at the Shash Hamdan, a Roman cemetery in Aleppo province. Also in the Aleppo countryside, statues carved out of the sides of a valley at al-Qatora have been deliberately targeted by gunfire and smashed into fragments.

[...]

And along with the ideological destruction comes the looting. Reportedly the sites of Ebla, Mari, and Dura Europos (et al.) are being devastated. The looting has been going on for some time. Here's an article from last May which just came to the attention of Judith Weingarten on Facebook: Lebanon seizes artifacts smuggled from Syria (Lebanon Daily Star). "They said the artifacts were looted from cemeteries in Palmyra and churches in Homs." This news is from last spring, but it's the first either of us have heard about it.

All this in addition to the appalling suffering and loss of life the war has brought.

Background, with more on Palmyra and Dura Europos, is here and here and links. Related posts are here and here. A more recent post on Palmyra is here. And a couple of more recent posts on Dura Europos are here and here.