The Islamic State (IS) group has blown up parts of the Temple of Bel in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activists said.
The Britain-based Observatory late on Sunday said the jihadist group had placed explosives inside the famed temple, at least partially destroying the building considered Palmyra’s most significant.
Mohamed Hassan al-Homsi, an activist from Palmyra, also reported the partial destruction on Sunday night, a week after IS destroyed the Baal Shamin temple at the historic Greco-Roman site.
“They laid the explosives today, using booby-trapped boxes and barrels that were already prepared by IS,” he said. “This was the most important temple for tourists and for the people of Palmyra. They used to hold festivals there.”
Homsi, who goes by a pseudonym, said the inner part of the temple was destroyed in the blast.
Syria’s antiquities head Maamoun Abdelkarim, reached by telephone in Damascus, said he could not confirm the destruction
“Rumors about these ruins are always coming out so we have to be careful about news like this,” he said.
There were also no immediate images released by IS of the reported destruction.
The reports come a week after IS blew up the smaller Baal Shamin temple in the UNESCO-listed Palmyra ruins.
That destruction was first reported by activists and Abdelkarim, and later confirmed in images released online by the Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The group, which controls swathes of Syria and Iraq, captured Palmyra on May 21, sparking international concern about the fate of the heritage site described by UNESCO as of “outstanding universal value.”
Known as the “Pearl of the desert,” Palmyra, which means City of Palms, is a well-preserved oasis 210km northeast of Damascus.
Before the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011, more than 150,000 tourists visited it every year.
On other fronts, Islamic State fighters yesterday battled Syrian rebel forces in a Damascus neighborhood, bringing the jihadists closer than ever to the center of the capital, the Observatory said.
The militants fought street battles against Muslim rebels in Asali, part of the capital’s southern Qadam district, after seizing two streets there over the weekend, it said.
“This is the closest IS has ever been to the heart of Damascus,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
He said the jihadists had advanced from the al-Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood, where they have been based since July last year.
A Syrian military official confirmed the clashes and said he was “very happy that they are fighting.”
“But we are ready to react if they try to advance into government-held territory,” he said.
The Observatory said fighting in the district on Sunday left 15 fighters dead, but it could not specify how many were from the Islamic State and how many were Muslim rebels.
In the northwest province of Idlib, the powerful Army of Conquest alliance edged closer to Fuaa, one of two remaining regime-held villages in the province.
The Observatory said the alliance seized the village of Sawaghiya on the southeast edge of Fuaa early yesterday after overnight clashes.
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