Famous Palmyra's Roman Amphitheater Marred By Terrorists

The ancient Roman amphitheater in Palmyra was attacked and destroyed by the Islamic State formerly referred to as ISIS/ISIL, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. It released a new video showing the destruction of the famous amphitheater as well as the city's tetrapylon, which is an arrangement of 16 columns marking the city's main crossroads, on Monday.

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that they have detected an upsurge in truck movement near the ancient city amid Syrian troops' successful advance on Palmyra. It further stated that this indicates that the IS wants to bring in explosives to deal maximum damage to the remaining architectural relics before they leave. The terrorists blew up the central part of the ancient theater, which is the proscenium.

According to Chicago Tribune, the video taken by the drone is released in Moscow. It showed the militants destroying the amphitheater.

This latest activity by the Islamic State in the ancient city of Palmyra suggests that the IS wants to destroy the remains of the ancient city's architecture, thus savaging them into rubble before they move away, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Meanwhile, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov hopes that Palmyra together with its invaluable monuments will be freed from terrorists soon.

Irina Bokova, the head of UNESCO, disparaged the destructions as a "war crime." The destructions in Palmyra started when the ancient city was captured by the Islamic State in May 2015. They also demolished the Monumental Arch of Palmyra, the Temple of Baalshamin and the Temple of Bel, according to The Washington Post.

Palmyra is an ancient Semitic city in Syria, dated back to the Neolithic period. It became the subject of the Roman Empire in the first century AD. The ancient city was wealthy, in which most of the Palmyrenes were renowned merchants. Palmyrenes were a mixture of Arameans, Arabs and Amorites. It was influenced by Greco-Roman culture and built unique art and architecture that had concepts from both eastern and western traditions. The Palmyrenes worshiped Arab gods, Mesopotamian and local deities.