Top Muslim body urges protection of Syria’s Palmyra

Leading Sunni Muslim body Al-Azhar said Sunday the world must unite in a “battle of all humanity” to prevent the Islamic State group from destroying Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra.

The appeal came a day after Syria’s antiquities director said that IS fighters had entered the museum in Palmyra and raised their black flag over the ancient citadel that overlooks the archaeological site.

“Protecting archeological sites from destruction and plundering is the battle of all of humanity,” the Cairo-based Al-Azhar, a prestigious seat of Islamic learning, said in a statement.

“We have to unite our efforts in order to protect one of the most important archaeological cities in the Middle East from being destroyed by Daesh,” it said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Al-Azhar said the international community must take urgent steps to prevent IS “from destroying the cultural and archaeological landmarks of the city” as it did in Iraq and other parts of Syria.

IS seized Palmyra on Thursday, sparking international concern for the 2,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site which is home to colonnaded alleys, elaborately decorated tombs and Greco-Roman ruins.

The jihadists are notorious for demolishing archaeological treasures since declaring a “caliphate” last year straddling Iraq and Syria.

They triggered outrage this year when they blew up the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and smashed artifacts in the Mosul museum, both in Iraq.

Al-Azhar said that Islamic sharia law forbids the destruction of world heritage sites and artifacts.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army is deploying troops in areas near the ancient town of Palmyra in apparent preparation for a counterattack to retake it from the Islamic State group, an official said.

Gov. Talal Barazi of the central province of Homs, which includes Palmyra, told The Associated Press Sunday that IS members have “committed mass massacres in the city of Palmyra” since they captured it on Wednesday. He said IS fighters took many civilians, including women, to unknown destinations.

Activists in the town have said that IS fighters have hunted down President Bashar Assad’s loyalists since taking the town, killing some 280 people.

Syria’s Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi condemned what he called “a massacre” in Palmyra blaming Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for such killings because of their support for groups trying to remove Assad from power.

Al-Halqi called on the international community and all humanitarian organizations to pressure the governments that support “terrorism” to stop their support “as terrorism is posing a global danger.” Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are main backers of Syrian rebels and opposition groups.

Barazi, the governor, said troops are fighting with IS gunmen in the nearby Jizl area. “There are plans, but we don’t know when the zero hour for a military act in Palmyra,” Barazi said without elaborating.

Meanwhile state-run news agency, SANA, said IS members are still preventing people from leaving Palmyra. The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said that along with its partners they are preparing aid for some 11,000 people who fled Palmyra and surrounding villages.

A Facebook page used by IS to publish its statement posted a photo of 20 Syrian soldiers in uniform captured in Palmyra.