ISIS blows up Baalshamin Temple at Palmyra

Islamic State (ISIS) militants have destroyed a temple at Syria�s ancient ruins of Palmyra, activists said Sunday, realizing the worst fears archaeologists had for the 2,000-year-old Roman-era city after the extremists seized it and beheaded a local scholar.

The temple of Baalshamin in Palmyra before its destruction 
[Credit: Bernard Gagnon/WikiCommons]

Palmyra, one of the Middle East�s most spectacular archaeological sites and a UNESCO World Heritage site, sits near the modern Syrian city of the same name. Activists said the militants used explosives to blow up the Baalshamin Temple on its grounds, the blast so powerful it also damaged some of the Roman columns around it.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the temple was blown up a month ago. Turkey-based activist Osama al-Khatib, who is originally from Palmyra, said the temple was blown up Sunday. Both said the extremists used a large amount of explosives to destroy it.

Both activists relied on information from those still in Palmyra and the discrepancy in their accounts could not be immediately reconciled, though such contradictory information is common in Syria�s long civil war.

The fate of the nearby Temple of Bel, dedicated to the Semitic god Bel, was not immediately known. ISIS supporters on social media also did not immediately mention the temple�s destruction.