Syria: Fears of lost heritage as Islamic fundamentalists destroy treasures

Islamic fundamentalists in Syria have started to destroy archaeological treasures such as Byzantine mosaics and Greek and Roman statues because their portrayal of human beings is contrary to their religious beliefs. Fears are growing that a part of the world's heritage may be lost forever unless there is a concerted international response. But can an international community that has failed to protect Syrian civilians manage to protect Syrian artefacts? Brendan Cole reports.

They are the forgotten victims of the conflict in Syria.

With more than 100,000 people now dead, the lines have become more blurred between insurgents fighting Bashar al Assad’s forces and Islamic fundamentalists who have started to destroy some of the country’s greatest treasures. These include archaeological treasures such as Byzantine mosaics and Greek and Roman statues. Last month the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), an al-Qaeda-type movement controlling much of north-east Syria, blew up and destroyed a sixth-century Byzantine mosaic near the city of Raqqa on the Euphrates. Malu Halasa, has written a book called Syria Speaks, about the art influenced by the Syrian uprising. She told VoR that the world needs to sit up and take notice of the destruction of Syria’s heritage.

“Damascus and Aleppo are considered the oldest inhabited cities in the world. Their treasures and ancient and ageless and people don’t realise that the conflict there has destroyed a lot.” Also in the Aleppo countryside, statues carved out of the sides of a valley at al-Qatora have been deliberately targeted by gunfire and smashed into fragments.

Other sites destroyed by Islamic fundamentalists include the reliefs carved at the Shash Hamdan, a Roman cemetery in Aleppo province.

Strong religious context

The destruction has a strong religious context. Syria was once dominated by the Sufis and with the revolution, the Salafi movement became more prominent and within their belief system which is very puritanical.

Syrian writer and journalist Halla Dyab explains the reasons behind the wanton destruction: “They targeted a lot of cultural sites mainly because fundamentalist Muslims who believe in Salafi-Wahabbi ideology and who do not believe in statues and are against human portrayals.”

Indeed, this systematic destruction of antiquities may be the worst disaster to ancient monuments since the Taliban in Afghanistan dynamited the giant statues of Buddha at Bamiyan in 2001. The Syrian writer and filmmaker Hall Dyab says there is a battle on to define the identity of Syria post-Assad. “What is happening is a sectarian war and they want the future Syria either to be a Shia Syria or a Sunni Syria. It is about the future of Syria and to ask the question of what Syria is about.” Earlier this week, an Islamist group put a video online threatening the destruction of a citadel in Aleppo. The Syrian government has told UNESCO it had emptied the country's 34 museums and moved the contents to safer places. But that does not appear to have stopped the illicit trade. Richard Clay is a senior lecturer in the history of art at the University of Birmingham. He said international agreement on the protection of Syria’s patrimony is more likely to succeed than any kind of peace deal.

“Trying to bring peace on the ground is almost unimaginable but it could be around the protection of heritage where there is common ground. Nobody on the Security Council does not believe in the value of heritage, all are signatories to UNESCO, that is a neutral ground maybe that’s where we could see blue helmets in Syria.” The European Union gave UNESCO 2.5 million euros this week to establish a team in Beirut to gather better information on the situation in Syria, to fight the trafficking of artefacts and to raise awareness internationally and locally. But the fears are growing that if and when the Syrian conflict comes to an end, part of the the country’s heritage will have disappeared along with law and order.

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