Mr Al Raba came back to Palmyra after Bashar Al Assad’s government fell last month and pro-regime forces fled the city. He left his home city and joined rebel groups in northern Syria following government repression of protests that began in 2011 and led to civil war.For many PaleoJudaica posts on the ancient metropolis of Palmyra, its history and archaeology, the Aramaic dialect once spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, now hopefully once again trending for the better, start here and follow the links.“I prefer this place to my own house – I sleep here, I eat here, I work here,” he said with a wistful smile. “I was working here for 15 years in this place so I know everything. When ISIS destroyed it, I was so upset.”
Upon his return he found the piles of ruins, a looted museum and holes in the ground where, returning residents claim that ISIS and pro-Assad forces had removed or stolen its valuable antiquities.
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