Separate reports this week indicated that Islamic State fighters were smashing cultural relics in the ancient city of Palmyra, once one of Syria’s most crowded tourist destinations, but now in the grips of the extremist organization.

The jihadists consider representations of divinity, especially those from pre-Islamic times, to be heretical and worthy of destruction. According to Syria’s director of antiquities, Maamoun Abdelkarim, the militants this week hacked apart the famous Lion of al-Lat, a limestone statue dating back to the first century B.C. that had been placed outside Palmyra museum.

“It’s the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyra’s heritage,” said Abdelkarim in an interview with Agence France-Presse. In May, as an Islamic State offensive neared the historic ruins, he had warned that Palmyra’s capture would be “an international catastrophe.”

Palmyra was once one of the ancient world’s great crossroads – a desert oasis under Rome’s sphere of influence connected via trade to the great empires and civilizations further east. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Palmyra boasts some of the most stunning, intact Roman-era structures still in existence.

The Islamic State’s control over the ruins is seen as a tragedy for global patrimony, given the group’s track record in nearby Iraq, where it has razed and pillaged a whole series of ancient Mesopotamian sites.

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