Amid reports of Syrian troops looting the ancient city of Palmyra, one archeologist says the ongoing destruction of the UNESCO world heritage site can be partially attributed to collateral damage in times of war.
University of Toronto Mesopotamian archaeology professor and Royal Ontario Museum curator Clemens Reichel says Syria’s culture has suffered from three major calamities over the course of the five-year civil war – the most significant, being the intentional destruction of ancient monuments by ISIS.
But he noted that the Syrian army, ISIS and the country’s rebel groups are all equally as responsible when it comes to the collateral damage caused during wartime.
Reichel said the looting of the city can be partly attributed to the country's dire economic situation.
"This country, the population of Syria, is starving," Reichel told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel on Thursday. "It's deprived of all resources, of income, and antiquities still create a sort of base of income."
Reports of looting by off-duty Syrian troops emerged mere months after the city was recaptured from ISIS.
ISIS was only of the ancient city March.
During the terrorist group's 10-month occupation of Palmyra, they smashed statues in the city's museum and that date back more than 1,800 years.
Reichel said Palmyraonce showcased the culmination of all ancient Middle Eastern cultural traditions, and was influenced by Greek and Roman culture and the Persian Empire.
"You see inscriptions in Aramaic, you see Greek and Latin writing. In a way, it's the antithesis of what ISIS stands for, this barbaric nihilism," he said. "A multicultural society as ancient Palmyra must have been tolerant towards different cultural traditions, towards different identities, and obviously that's not what ISIS stands for."
