Monday, April 04, 2016

Inside the Palmyra museum

PALMYRA WATCH: Smashed sculptures, decapitated statues and defaced figures: Devastation inside Palmyra's national museum after ISIS destroyed priceless artefacts (Ben Tufft, Daily Mail). With lots of photos of the devastation.

Also, there's this: Palmyra restoration possible only after peace in Syria - French Foreign Ministry official. "Not only a temporary truce, which we hail, but real peace," Anne-Marie Desctes, Director-General for Globalization, Development and Partnerships at the French Foreign Ministry said (Tass).
MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. A full-fledged start of restoration of monuments destroyed in Syria’s Palmyra will only be possible after a comprehensive truce is established in the country, a senior official at the French Foreign Ministry told TASS in an interview.

Sappers defuse 1,230 mines in Palmyra — Russia's Defense Ministry
"In order to reliably protect that wonderful heritage [Palmyra] from barbaric actions, which were destroying it for so long, and completely restore it, being guided by broad international support, peace is required. Not only a temporary truce, which we hail, but real peace," Anne-Marie Desctes, Director-General for Globalization, Development and Partnerships at the French Foreign Ministry, said.

[...]
Maybe so, but it does not sound like real peace is coming anytime soon. And I don't think the Russians are going to wait around for it before they go to work on the restoration.

Background here and links.