Curating antiquities or attending international conferences on archaeology have become capital offenses, according to some who claim to be “religious purists.” Two more Syrian nationalists who have served all of us by protecting and preserving our global cultural heritage in this cradle of civilization were murdered within the past two weeks, just six days apart.According to Dr. Lamb, Qassim Abdullah Yehya was killed in August by "rebels near Douma, a close-in eastern Gouta superb of Damascus." No further information about them is given. The article also contains further details on the death of Khaled al-Assad. Dr. Lamb appears to be in a position to know this sort of information, but I have no verification at this point.
Qassim Abdullah Yehya 37, and Khaled al-Assad 83, were two of the 14 committed professionals serving their country and all of humanity through current and past associations with Syria’s renowned Directorate General of Antiquities & Museums (DGAM). As with a dozen of their DGAM colleagues before them, Mssrs. Yehya and al-Assad have also [sic; add "been" - JRD] murdered in the line of duty since the March 2011 Syrian crisis erupted. According to today’s latest UN statistics, more than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives, utterly devastating their families and loved ones, over the past 53 months of nearly unimaginable carnage.
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Related post here. More on the murder of Khaled al-Assad by ISIS is here and links.