The Syrian army is battling Islamic State militants just one or two kilometres from the ancient city of Tadmur, home to a Unesco world heritage site, the Syrian antiquities chief has told reporters.
Maamoun Abdulkarim said that if the militant group seizes the city, “they will destroy everything that exists there”.
Tadmur, which has previously been a frontline in the four-year-long Syrian conflict, is home to extensive ruins of one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.
It was put on Unesco’s world heritage in danger list in 2013.
The city is also known as Palmyra.
Major offensive
Islamic State was said to be advancing towards the city as part of a major offensive in central Syria by the jihadist group.
The group, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria, has previously been filmed destroying ancient artefacts and monuments.
In March, it razed areas of the 2,700-year-old city of Khorsabad, famous for its colossal statues of human-headed winged bulls.
It has also attacked sites and destroyed antiquities in the cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Hatra in Iraq.
Mr Abdulkarim, who last year received Unesco’s cultural heritage rescue prize, feared Tadmur may suffer the same fate.
“We are praying to God that the Syrian army will push them back. But to be honest, it will be the worst time for Syria [if they seize Tadmur],” he said.
“We know what they will do . . . from experience with this Islamic State group in Nimrud and Mosul, there will be a crime [in Tadmur] if they seize it.”
Reuters