Revelation 6:3-4 NCV When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" Then another horse came out, a red one. Its rider was given power to take away peace (prosperity, rest) from the earth and to make people kill each other (butcher, slaughter, to maim violently, in streets), and he was given a big sword (assassins sword, terrorist, loud, mighty, sore afraid).
Islamic terrorist group ISIS has destroyed an ancient temple in the city of Palmyra, Syria in what the United Nations is calling a war crime.
The Temple of Baalshamin was destroyed on the heels of the terrorists killing Khaled al-Asssad. The 82-year-old al-Asssad was an expert on Syrian antiquities and refused to tell the terrorists the locations of items they wanted to find. Assad ran the antiquities department of Palmyra for 50 years.
Syria’s head of antiquities told the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights the terrorists blew up the temple on Sunday causing “much damage.”
“[ISIS] destroyed an incredibly important architectural structure,” Maamoun Abdulkarim said. “It is the first structure in the Palmyra complex to be destroyed, although they recently destroyed two Islamic shrines nearby.”
“They said they would destroy the statues but not the structures themselves inside Palmyra. They lied.”
The United Nations was swift to condemn the action.
“The systematic destruction of cultural symbols embodying Syrian cultural diversity reveals the true intent of such attacks, which is to deprive the Syrian people of its knowledge, its identity and history. One week after the killing of Professor Khaled al-Assaad, the archaeologist who had looked after Palmyra’s ruins for four decades, this destruction is a new war crime and an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity,” Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement.
“The art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, is a symbol of the complexity and wealth of the Syrian identity and history. Extremists seek to destroy this diversity and richness, and I call on the international community to stand united against this persistent cultural cleansing. Daesh (ISIS) is killing people and destroying sites, but cannot silence history and will ultimately fail to erase this great culture from the memory of the world. Despite the obstacles and fanaticism, human creativity will prevail, buildings and sites will be rehabilitated, and some will be rebuilt,” Bokova continued.
“Such acts are war crimes and their perpetrators must be accountable for their actions. UNESCO stands by all Syrian people in their efforts to safeguard their heritage, a heritage for all humanity.”
