Syria's ancient treasures pulverised

[Mark]

I generally hold off posting on "looting amid war/unrest" stories due to the likelihood of ending up in political debate, but thought this one worth knowing about (and despairing of)

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-syrias-ancient-treasures-pulverised-8007768.html#

[Sharur]

As Fisk put it, it's the Iraq disaster all over again.

[Patrick Waterson]

The irony - if it is not a paradox - is that rulers of the stamp we would find unendurable to live under tend after a while to become quite history-minded and put resources and attention into preserving their national heritage - with a few twists to make the rulers themselves more impressive than they really are.  Then, when their long-suffering populations finally throw off the shackles, these organised, destructive mobs of looters and vandals spring seemingly out of nowhere and ransack the cultural heritage.

At least when it is all over a new regime might give scholars and archaeologists freer access to what is left.

Patrick

[Mark]

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Aug-11/184198-aleppo-citadel-hit-by-shelling-says-opposition.ashx#axzz23BbEcFXx

Aleppo citadel hit by shelling, says opposition

ALEPPO, Syria: Shelling by the Syrian army has damaged Aleppo's historic citadel, part of a world heritage site in the heart of the commercial capital, the exiled opposition said Friday.

"Photographs by activists and archaeological associations show that the Aleppo citadel ... has been damaged," the Syrian National Council said in a statement.

One photograph distributed by the group appeared to show damage to the citadel's entrance.

"The way in which the shell hit the main entrance of the fortress and broke the marble panel bearing its name suggests that the Syrian regime intentionally targeted the site," the SNC charged.

"Only regime loyalists have the kind of shell that hit."

Aleppo's old city has been listed by the U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a World Heritage Site since 1986.

The listing says that the 13th-century citadel, 12th-century Great Mosque and 17th-century Islamic schools, palaces, caravanserais and bathhouses are of "outstanding universal value."

"The monumental citadel of Aleppo, rising above the souks, mosques and madrasas of the old walled city, is testament to Arab military might from the 12th to the 14th centuries," it says.

It was not immediately possible to independently verify the opposition's claim of damage to the citadel.

The Syrian army has shelled the area around the fortress several times in recent days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

[Mark]

http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/discovery/what-will-happen-to-syria-s-dead-cities-1.1359522#.UClV1EIcbmZ

What will happen to Syria's 'Dead Cities'?

London - The priceless treasures of Syria's history - of Crusader castles, ancient mosques and churches, Roman mosaics, the renowned "Dead Cities" of the north and museums stuffed with antiquities - have fallen prey to looters and destruction by armed rebels and government militias as fighting envelops the country.

While the monuments and museums of the two great cities of Damascus and Aleppo have so far largely been spared, reports from across Syria tell of irreparable damage to heritage sites that have no equal in the Middle East. Even the magnificent castle of Krak des Chevaliers - described by Lawrence of Arabia as "perhaps the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world" and which Saladin could not capture - has been shelled by the Syrian army, damaging the Crusader chapel inside.

The destruction of Iraq's heritage in the anarchic aftermath of the Anglo-American invasion of 2003 - the looting of the national museum, the burning of the Koranic library and the wiping out of ancient Sumerian cities - may now be repeated in Syria.

Reports from Syrian archeologists and from Western specialists in bronze age and Roman cities tell of an Assyrian temple destroyed at Tell Sheikh Hamad, massive destruction to the wall and towers of the citadel of al-Madiq castle - one of the most forward Crusader fortresses in the Levant which originally fell to Bohemond of Antioch in 1106 - and looting of the magnificent Roman mosaics of Apamea, where thieves have used bulldozers to rip up Roman floors and transport them from the site. Incredibly, they have managed to take two giant capitols from atop the colonnade of the "decumanus", the main east-west Roman road in the city.

In many cases, armed rebels have sought sanctuary behind the thick walls of ancient castles only to find that the Syrian military have not hesitated to blast away at these historical buildings to destroy their enemies.

Pitched battles have been fought between rebels and Syrian troops amid the "Dead Cities", the hundreds of long-abandoned Graeco-Roman towns that litter the countryside outside Aleppo, which once formed the heart of ancient Syria. Syrian troops have occupied the Castle of Ibn Maan above the Roman city of Palmyra and parked tanks and armoured vehicles in the Valley of the Tombs to the west of the old city.

The government army are reported to have dug a deep defensive trench within the Roman ruins.

"The situation of Syria's heritage today is catastrophic," according to Joanne Farchakh, a Lebanese archaeologist who also investigated the destruction and plundering of Iraq's historical treasures after 2003, and helped the Baghdad museum to reclaim some of its stolen artefacts.

"One of the problems is that for 10 years before the war, the Syrian regime established 25 cultural museums all over the country to encourage tourism and to keep valuable objects on these sites - many placed stone monuments in outside gardens, partly to prove that the regime was strong enough to protect them.

Now the Homs museum has been looted - by rebels and by government militias, who knows? - and antique dealers are telling me that the markets of Jordan and Turkey are flooded with artifacts from Syria."

There is, of course, a moral question about our concern for the destruction of the treasures of history. Common humanity suggests that the death of a single Syrian child amid the 19,000 fatalities of Syria's tragedy must surely carry more weight than the plundering and erasure of three thousand years of civilisation. True.

But the pulverisation and theft of whole cities of history deprives future generations - in their millions - of their birthright and of the seeds of their own lives. Syria has always been known as "the Land of Civilisations" - Damascus and Aleppo are among the world's oldest inhabited cities and Syria is the birthplace of agrarian society - and the terrible conflict now overwhelming the country will deprive us and our descendants of this narrative for ever.

To their enormous credit, Syrian archaeologists have themselves anonymously catalogued the destruction of their native country's historical sites.

They include government shelling of villages that exist within ancient cities; rebels have apparently been sheltered, for example, in the small civilian township built inside the wonderful ruins of Bosra which contains one of the best-preserved Roman theatres in the world - which did not prevent several buildings from being destroyed. Similar bombardments have smashed the fabric of Byzantine-era buildings in al-Bara, Deir Sunbel and Ain Larose in northern Syria.

In the monastery of Sednaya, apparently founded by the Emperor Justinian - the people of the village still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus - shellfire has damaged the oldest section of the building, which dates back to 574.

The Umayyad Mosque in Deraa, one of the oldest Islamic-era structures in Syria, built at the request of the Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab, has also been damaged. Dr Bassam Jamous, the government-appointed director general of antiquities in Syria, says that "terrorists" - ironically, the Western world's own nomenclature for state enemies - have targeted historic buildings in Damascus, Aleppo, Bosra, Palmyra and the Citadel of Salah al-Din (Saladin), a crusader fortress seized by the Kurdish warrior hero in 1188, the year after he recaptured Jerusalem for the Muslims from Balian of Ibelin.

Several months ago the Syrian authorities reported the theft of the golden statue of an 8th century BC Aramaic god - still unfound, although it was reported to Interpol - and admitted thefts at government museums at Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Maarat al-Numan and Qalaat Jaabar. Hiba Sakhel, the Syrian director of museums, has confirmed that items from the Aleppo museum have been transferred to the vaults of the central bank in Damascus for safekeeping.

"Syrian Archeological Heritage in Danger", a group of Syrian specialists who list the destruction and looting of the country's treasures on their own website, has revealed that Syria's Prime Minister, Adel Safar, wrote to fellow ministers on 11 July last year warning that "the country is threatened by armed criminal groups with hi-tech tools and specialised in the theft of manuscripts and antiquities, as well as the pillaging of museums".

The archaeologists find this note "very odd" because it appears to warn of looting which had not yet occurred - and thus suggests that officials in the regime might be preparing the way for their own private theft and re-sale of the country's heritage, something which did indeed occur under President Assad's father Hafez al-Assad.

So the looting and destruction lies at the door of all sides in the Syrian conflict, along with the thieves who move in on all historic sites when the security of the state evaporates. In truth, Syria has always suffered - and the regime always tolerated - a limited amount of theft from historical sites, to boost the economy in the poor areas in the north of the country and to enrich the regime's own mafiosi. But what is happening now is on an epic and terrifying scale.

"As for the old churches, old houses, old streets of Homs, you can forget it - they don't exist any more," archaeologist Joanne Farchakh says. A specialist in heritage in times of war in Lebanon, Iraq and northern Cyprus as well as Syria, she gloomily reports new information from the second millennium BC sites in which looters have dug huge holes, metres wide, to unearth the treasures of pre-history.

Much of this destruction is taking place not only in the world of ancient Rome, the Crusaders and the Muslim conquest and revival, but in the land of the original "terrorists", the Assassins whose murderous attacks on all authority a thousand years ago were led by "the Old Man of the Mountains". He once besieged Al-Madiq castle - whose bombardment by the Syrian army is now available on videotape.

- The Independent on Sunday

[Mark]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/arts/design/syrian-conflict-imperils-historical-treasures.html?_r=2&hpw

Syrian Conflict Imperils Historical Treasures

Preservationists and archaeologists are warning that fighting in Syria's commercial capital, Aleppo — considered the world's oldest continuously inhabited human settlement — threatens to damage irreparably the stunning architectural and cultural legacy left by 5,000 years of civilizations.

Already the massive iron doors to the city's immense medieval Citadel have been blown up in a missile attack, said Bonnie Burnham, president of the World Monuments Fund, an organization that works to preserve cultural heritage sites.

The fund has collaborated for more than a decade with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Syrian government's Cultural Ministry and German archaeologists in excavating and restoring the site.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces have been shelling the city, and in recent days his army has taken up positions inside the Citadel, trading fire with insurgents through the castle's arrow loops, according to news reports. Built on a massive outcropping of rock, the easily defended Citadel has been an important strategic military point for millenniums and is once again serving that function.

Among the significant archaeological sites endangered is the Temple of the Storm God, which dates from the third to the second millennium B.C. and which Ms. Burnham identified as one of the oldest structures in the world. Never opened to the public, the recently discovered temple and its huge carved reliefs are protected only by sandbags and a flimsy corrugated tin roof, she said.

Aleppo's labyrinthine streets reveal a microcosm of human history. Beneath the Citadel are remains of Bronze Age friezes and Roman fortresses. The entire walled Old City, with its 12th-century Great Mosque, thousands of pastel-colored medieval courtyard houses, Arab souks and 17th-century stone madrasas, an Ottoman palace and hammams, is recognized as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, the United Nations cultural arm.

Images of the Citadel show rubble in some locations, but it is difficult to verify the extent to which either side is responsible for any damage.

The Syrian National Council, a coalition of antigovernment forces, issued a communiqué saying that the Citadel was damaged on Friday by an army rocket. Al Jazeera filmed rebels last week talking about the need to capture the Citadel.

Ms. Burnham warned that looting could inflict further damage on the city. She said she was informed about the destruction from archaeologists in the United States, Europe and the Middle East who have been in contact by telephone and through the Internet with eyewitnesses in Aleppo.

"People initially thought Damascus and Aleppo would be spared," she said. "This is the richest cultural area of the Middle East, so there is really a lot to lose here."

Located at the intersection of ancient trade routes, Aleppo has seen empires rise and fall. The armies of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Tamerlaine and the Muslim general Saladin have at one time or another both attacked and defended the spot.       

In 1996 a team of German and Syrian archaeologists began to peel back another layer of the region's history, unearthing some of the 5,000-year-old Temple of the Storm God beneath the Citadel. The temple contains a monumental frieze of basalt relief sculptures created by the ancient Hittites, whose empire once stretched from Anatolia to northern Syria. It marks "one of the great religious centers" of the ancient world," the magazine Archaeology reported in 2009, as the excavations were being finished, and offers "a unique glimpse into the religious architecture, beliefs and practices of the ancient Near East over a vast span of time."

The team found other treasures beneath the dirt and rubble, including a relief of the storm god — perhaps a counterpart to the Greeks' thunderbolt-wielding Zeus — that dates back to the 14th century B.C., and seven-foot-tall sculptures of a lion and a sphinx.

The Citadel itself was the centerpiece of what Nicolai Ouroussoff, the former architecture critic of The New York Times, called "one of the most far-thinking preservation projects in the Middle East." The World Monuments Fund and the Aga Khan Trust restored this medieval landmark, as well as hundreds of old houses; rebuilt streets; and planned a 42-acre park to upgrade and integrate the surrounding community. A museum on the site was also planned.

The fund was compelled to withdraw from the project about 18 months ago, Ms. Burnham said, because of the growing instability in Syria.

The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict, drawn up in 1954 in the wake of the devastating losses inflicted during World War II, requires countries to ensure the safety of significant cultural sites, monuments, museums and libraries. More than 120 countries, including the United States and Syria, have signed the agreement. But preservationists complain that little has been done in advance to protect treasured sites. They point out that in Aleppo, both the government and the rebels have a responsibility to protect their cultural legacy.

Jörg Esefeld, an urban planner who served as an adviser to the Aga Khan Trust in Aleppo, said that what needed to be done now was to highlight the danger both within and outside of Syria. "I think the world should know — day by day, and again and again — that there is a unique cultural heritage exposed to be demolished," he wrote in an e-mail from Stuttgart, Germany. "This is not only a question for Syria; it will be a question for all of us, for the whole world."

Experts on the region, however, doubt that such appeals will take precedence over military strategy.

"The Assad government's primary concern is to destroy the rebels, and the opposition's fighters want to remove Assad from power," said Ed Husain, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. During the massacre that occurred in Hama in 1982, he added, "Assad's father bombed mosques. A government that readily kills its own people cannot be expected to respect and preserve historical monuments, bricks and mortar. All is expendable for control of the country. The damage done to the Citadel is one such example."

[Mark]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444508504577591571057240042.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Saving Syria

By CHRISTIAN C. SAHNER

Many tragedies have followed the start of the Syrian uprising 18 months ago, but one that deserves more attention is the destruction of Syria's cultural patrimony. Throughout the country, Roman temples, Crusader castles and medieval mosques have been subject to shelling, gunfire and military occupation. What is more, the collapse of authority has led to widespread theft and looting. As Syria descends into bedlam, the international community must work to protect the country's historical sites, lest we see a repeat of the destruction of Iraq's landmarks after 2003.

Syria is the cradle of civilization, with a history of human settlement stretching back 5,000 years. Its cultures have left behind archaeological treasures of unmatched richness and beauty. They bear witness to the many peoples who have mixed across these lands through the centuries—Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Umayyads and Ottomans, among others—each contributing to the ethnic, religious and linguistic tableau that is modern Syria.

Even in the best of times, many of these monuments were lightly policed, especially in remote areas. But as war has engulfed the country, security resources normally allocated for protecting monuments have been redeployed to the battlefield. The fighting has drawn few distinctions between civilian and military targets, leaving many sites exposed to damage. There is plenty of blame to go around, as both government and opposition forces bear responsibility for the destruction and the collapse of security. Much of what we know about this comes from Syrians on the ground and their allies online, who post news and videos on websites such as Facebook and YouTube. A leading watchdog group is the Global Heritage Fund, which in May published an extensive report detailing the crisis.

Among the at-risk monuments is the Unesco World Heritage site Crac des Chevaliers, a Crusader fortress of the 12th to 13th centuries, which stands on a hilltop overlooking the plains of Homs. It is regarded as the finest example of medieval castle architecture anywhere in the world. According to reports, Crac was the site of peaceful antigovernment protests in March when it came under shelling. This led to damage to the outer walls, as well as the elegant Crusader chapel inside, which was converted into a mosque in 1271. Other reports indicate that it has served as a hub for foreign fighters who have entered Syria to battle the regime.

Then there is the ancient city of Palmyra, another Unesco World Heritage site, whose ruins lay scattered across a desert oasis 150 miles northeast of Damascus. Looting has been reported throughout the archaeological site, including in the Temple of Bel complex, the stately colonnaded avenue, the Camp of Diocletian, and the Valley of the Tombs.

Some of the most brazen destruction has occurred at the Roman city of Apamea, about 40 miles northwest of Hama. During recent months, Syrian army tanks have occupied the colonnaded street and shelled the 12th-century fortress of Qala'at al-Mudiq, which stands atop the old Roman acropolis. Plunderers have profited from the chaos, arriving in Apamea with heavy digging equipment and absconding with priceless Roman mosaics and column capitals. There is speculation that these kinds of looters are part of a wider network of criminals operating in the Middle East, who pillage archaeological sites on behalf of the black market.

Some of the worst-hit monuments lie in cities that have been the focus of sustained urban warfare. These include Dara'a in the far southwest, where the uprising began in March 2011; its 'Umari mosque— founded at the time of the Islamic conquests—has sustained heavy shelling. There is also Homs, the veritable center of the uprising, where countless mosques, churches and markets now stand in ruin. Most recently, the fighting has spread to Aleppo, where gunfire has engulfed the great medieval citadel in the center of town, which has served as a makeshift army base.

There are dozens of other examples of destruction throughout the country, not to mention instances of brazen theft from Syrian museums. This has prompted ominous comparisons to postinvasion Iraq, where the collapse of security led to much-publicized looting of the National Museum, along with ancient sites such as Babylon and Nineveh. With no end to the Syrian uprising in sight, what can be done to reverse the trend?

First, the media and nongovernmental organizations must publicize the damage and looting. Even if this does not help in the near-term in Syria, hopefully it will prepare the international community to protect its cultural patrimony more effectively in new conflicts down the road, as the experience in Iraq did for Libya since 2011. Second, we can strengthen legislation against the illegal antiquities trade, which tends to drive much of the looting in war zones. Third, the international community must exert pressure on both the Syrian regime and the opposition to ensure the safety of Syria's treasures. Finally, we must create plans to assess and safeguard sites once the regime falls, as seems inevitable. Tourism generated by Syria's cultural patrimony can play a crucial role in the country's postwar economic recovery if managed properly.

The Syrian uprising has caused untold human suffering since it began 18 months ago; at latest count, the death toll has surpassed 23,000. In light of this, one might rightly ask whether the protection of historical sites should be much of a priority, especially when more pressing problems require our attention.

Yet it is a priority. The Syrian revolution will one day end, leaving behind a country divided along sectarian, ethnic and regional lines. It will fall to Syria's new leaders to repair these divisions, to recover a sense of a united Syria that is stronger than its constituent parts. In this world, Syria's cultural patrimony can play a crucial role: as a reminder to the country of its diversity and achievements across the ages, as well as a symbol of pride and unity going forward.

Mr. Sahner is a doctoral candidate in history at Princeton University. He lived in Syria periodically between 2008 and 2010.

[Mark]

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16191710,00.html

Archeological treasures face destruction in Syria

Dominik Bonatz would rather be in Tell el Fakhariya in northern Syria on the border with Turkey. Instead, in the middle of the excavation season, the director of the Institute for Ancient Middle Eastern Archaeology is sitting in his office at Berlin's Freie Universität.

He heads a team of 60, with whom he worked on one of the largest and most significant ruins in the region. Since 2011, it has been too dangerous for Bonatz and his colleagues to return there. The excavations, financed by the German Research Society (DFG), were set to become a life work for Bonatz.

Fearing destruction

In the late Bronze Age, around 1,500 to 1,100 BC, the site was once the capital city of a kingdom. Alongside scriptures, which occupied a central role for Tell el Fakhariya, researchers found the remains of administrative buildings. The site in Tell el Fakhariya could be the capital of Mittani rulers, which has yet to be identified.

"The discovery of a royal palace was imminent," Bonatz told DW. Now he fears the worst. "Many archaeological excavations close to conflict flashpoints, such as in Tell Afis or Palmyra, were destroyed. Tanks have destroyed the occupation layers; pillaging has occurred in other areas," he said.

Tell el Fakhariya remains, as yet, untroubled. But just a single Syrian watchman secures the excavation site and an assault could be delivered without resistance.


The fortified Temple of Bel in Palmyra was once a major tourist attraction in Syria

Cultural intersections

The significance of the Mideast state is central to antiquity studies. Syria has been considered the cradle of civilization, because there the first alphabet was devised, even before the Greeks.

However, Jan-Waalke Meyer considers that assertion "excessive." The archaeology professor at the University of Frankfurt views Syria as a convergence point for various cultural influences: "People from Egypt, Anatolia, the eastern Mediterranean and southern Mesopotamia all met in Syria. This typically Syrian convergence provided the basis for European culture," said Meyer.

He has been carrying out excavations in Tell Chuera on the Syrian-Turkish border for 15 years. For archaeological experts, the name Tell Chuera is closely linked with Max Freiherr von Oppenheim (1860-1946), one of the first discoverers and researchers of ancient cultures in Syria.

During his research expeditions, Oppenheim discovered the hill ruins at Tell Chuera at the beginning of the last century and was the first to recognize its historically significant status.

Effects of war

The next largest city, Al-Raqqah, is located 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Tell Chuera. Despite its remoteness, danger threatens. "There is no peace anywhere in Syria," said Meyer. "The rural population is also directly or indirectly affected by the war - firstly due to the threat of terror, but also because food prices have tripled and diesel is becoming scarce, so that the irrigation systems no longer function."

Jan-Waalke Meyer telephones with Syrian colleagues, including the watchman who is charged with minding the excavation site, on a weekly basis. The watchman has already been forced to fight off an intruder. Since the attack, he and his family have lived in fear.

Bleak prospects for Syria

Five archaeological institutes from German universities were carrying out research in Syria until the outbreak of war. Even the German Archaeological Institute, which has maintained an outpost in Damascus for the past 30 years, was forced to abandon its field research.

Excavation supervisor Karin Bartl who has been investigating the Neolithic site of Shir, among other things, for a number of years, moved with the institute to Amman in neighboring Jordan.

"Since the central Syrian cities of Homs and Hama have been the focus of the conflict since the beginning, we were forced to end our work. As of May 2011, the institute has been closed to the public," according to the German Archaeological Institute.


The Triumphal Arch in Palmyra is still standing - other sites have already been ransacked

Years of research under threat

Any willful destruction of historical monuments in Tell el Fakhariya would spell the end of many years of research for Dominik Bonatz from Berlin's Freie Universität. "There wouldn't be any point in continuing with the work after that," said Bonatz with resignation.

He's also not banking on being able to return to Syria anytime soon. "The situation will remain unstable for a long time," he continued.

The prognoses of Jan-Waalke Meyer from the University of Frankfurt are just as bleak. For him, there is no end in sight to the violence. "I see no peaceful solution for the country, and I see no new government forming that would lead to an immediate ceasefire."

[Mark]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/28/us-syria-crisis-aleppo-idUSBRE87R0US20120828

Aleppo's ancient city a victim of Syrian war

By Oliver Holmes

(Reuters) - Ruled successively by Hittites, Greeks, Romans and Ottomans, Aleppo's ancient city has survived violent change over thousands of years. But the modern weaponry of Syria's escalating civil war is proving too much.

The stone walls are pockmarked with bullet holes, whole houses have fallen after air strikes, and small wooden doors decorated with metal filigree are cracked from explosions.

For a month, rebels armed with assault rifles and grenades have battled President Bashar al-Assad's army along Aleppo's cobbled streets. Troops have used tanks, helicopters and jets to shoot, blast and bomb their positions.

"Every day there is fighting in Aleppo's Old City. Yesterday a jet bombed twice. The helicopters fire on us and there are mortar bombs every day," said rebel fighter Ahmed Hanesh, a 19-year-old student from the old district of Jedeide, standing guard at the edge of the Old City.

Even before the fighting, time had forced houses made of stone and wooden beams to lean under their own weight and Aleppo's ancient mosques are crumbling. But the new scars are prominent. "How can we protect the old houses? We have to protect ourselves first," said Hanesh, his green head band and ammunition jacket popular attire for rebels who see themselves as the protectors of civilians from Assad's feared militia, the shabbiha.

Further into the Old City, the streets taper. Families with young children walk in the opposition direction with their possessions - refugees fleeing pitched battles.

A teenage boy holding a mattress over his head warns that further in it is not safe: "There is destruction in there," he says, before scurrying after his mother.

Where tourists once marveled at Aleppo's preserved madrassas and ancient markets - imagining themselves in an Arabian Nights fantasy - now fighters stand at every corner with their weapons placed on sandbag barriers. The tourist shops are shuttered, their famed green olive soap locked up; an industry ruined.

The aroma of home-made perfume and spice markets has been replaced with the smell of stone dust, chipped out into the air by shrapnel and bullets.

Rebels and government troops here fight street by street. Enemies position themselves only meters away from each other as the ziz-zag alleyways grant some protection from a direct line of fire. They know Aleppo's stone buildings will take the blows.

CATASTROPHE

Aleppo's Old City is one of several locations in Syria declared world heritage sites by UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, which are now at risk from the fighting.

"It's a catastrophe. Aleppo is thought to be one of the oldest towns in the world and a crossroads for some of the region's most important historical developments," a UNESCO representative told Reuters in Paris.

"It's extremely important symbolically and we're really very worried."

UNESCO believes five of Syria's six heritage sites - which also include the ancient desert city of Palmyra, the Crac des Chevaliers fortress, and parts of old Damascus - have been affected.

Crac des Chevaliers, an almost intact crusader castle perched on a mountain in central Homs province, repelled waves of medieval offensives but was no match for modern explosives. Video footage has shown what appears to be damage from mortar or artillery to its 13th century battlements.

Worried by the risk of looting at archaeological sites, UNESCO has contacted Interpol and neighboring countries to halt any smuggling of artifacts.

"Of course the main priority is protecting civilians, but Syria's heritage is also extremely important, because it's part of the country's identity," the UNESCO representative said.

"Past experience with Iraq for example has shown just how much damage can be caused to a peoples' identity," he said, citing the looting of the Baghdad antiquities museum after the 2003 U.S. invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

RELIGIOUS COHERENCE BROKEN

Baghdad's museum was ransacked within days of Saddam's overthrow, an early sign of the chaos which eventually plunged Iraq into sectarian war.

In Aleppo, rebels now claim control of roughly half of the Old City, mostly to the east. Government forces and shabbiha control the main souk, the main Ummayad mosque and Aleppo's biggest prize: the citadel.

From a safe distance, the half-kilometer-wide (500-yard) medieval fortress can be seen rising above the city. Its huge wooden gates were broken into by shabbiha and now its immediate surroundings are a no-go area.

Residents say snipers have positioned themselves in the thin stone windows, first carved out for archers. Today's snipers are precise and they shoot on sight, residents say.

And civil war between a president who comes from a minority Alawite offshoot of Shi'ite Islam against a largely Sunni Muslim majority has broken the delicate sectarian balance of the Old City, where religious groups lived side by side for centuries.

Saeed Ali, another young rebel in Jedeide, says that residents of Aleppo's Christian quarter have sided with Assad. "All the Christians volunteer to fire Kalashnikovs against us," he said, kicking spent bullet cases which lie idle on the road.

"The Old City's Kurds are with Assad, too. Even the women fight," he said.

Sunni residents say their own sect's treasures are being deliberately targeted. Ahmed Ibrahim, an electrician who also works to maintain one of Aleppo's 14th Century Mamluk mosques, says Assad stirred up sectarian tensions to promote the idea that he is fighting extremist terrorists.

Ibrahim said that over the weekend a jet dropped a bomb a couple meters from the main minaret. The limestone walls held strong but the prayer hall was damaged. The cool interior, sheltered from the August sun by its domed roof, was full of broken glass and debris.

Further down the road, another mosque was not so lucky. One bomb missed, leaving a 3-metre deep crater in the street. The next one hit the mosque, causing a bus to flip over, and the cemetery to crack open, its marble tombstones bowing over from the shockwave.

As Ibrahim spoke a government fighter jet flew overhead at 300 feet, firing on a nearby district. The Old City dweller took refuge in a nearby alcove.

"Jews, Christians and Muslims know that God is watching them," said Ibrahim, a pious man who keeps a well-cut beard and wears long robes. "Assad has forgotten."

[Mark]

http://world.time.com/2012/09/12/syrias-looted-past-how-ancient-artifacts-are-being-traded-for-guns/?iid=gs-main-lede

Syria's Looted Past: How Ancient Artifacts Are Being Traded for Guns

Nelofer Pazira

The badly damaged outer gate of Aleppo's Citadel after government opponents try to blast their way into the ancient fortress. Aleppo, Syria.

Abu Khaled knows the worth of things. As a small-time smuggler living along the porous border between Syria and Lebanon, he has dabbled in antiquities as much as the cigarettes, stolen goods and weapons that make up the bulk of his trade. So when a smuggler from Syria brought him a small, alabaster statue of a seated man a few weeks ago, he figured that the carving, most likely looted from one of Syria's two dozen heritage museums or one of its hundreds of archaeological sites, could be worth a couple thousand dollars in Lebanon's antiquities black market. So he called his contacts in Beirut. But instead of asking for cash, he asked for something even more valuable: weapons.

"War is good for us," he says of the community of smugglers that regularly transit the nearby border. "We buy antiquities cheap, and then sell weapons expensively." That business, he says, is about to get better. Fighters allied with the Free Syrian Army units battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad have told him that they are developing an association of diggers dedicated to finding antiquities in order to fund the revolution. "The rebels need weapons, and antiquities are an easy way to buy them," says Abu Khaled, who goes by his nickname in order to protect his identity.

Criminal activity thrives in chaos, and the theft of antiquities for a rapacious international black market is no exception. Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan have all fallen victim to looters during previous wars, and Libya and Egypt, rich in archaeological sites, witnessed several attempts at looting during their more recent uprisings. In the case of Syria, however, the full-blown civil war may do more harm than simply the plundering of its culture. The burgeoning market for this ancient land's priceless treasures could actually prolong and intensify the conflict, providing a ready supply of goods to be traded for weapons. Furthermore, the ongoing devastation inflicted on the country's stunning archaeological sites—bullet holes lodged in walls of its ancient Roman cities, the debris of Byzantine churches, early mosques and crusader fortresses—rob Syria of its best chance for a post-conflict economic boom based on tourism, which, until the conflict started 18 months ago, contributed 12% to the national income.

Syria's grim human toll—at least 20,000 dead, some 250,000 registered refugees and an estimated 1.2 million internally displaced, according to the UN— has been echoed by devastating attacks on the country's archaeological heritage. All six of Syria's UNESCO world heritage sites have been damaged by rocket, tank and small-arms fire, some "potentially irreversibly," according to archaeologist Emma Cunliffe, a PhD researcher at the United Kingdom's Durham University who has just published a report detailing the destruction of Syria's historical sites. "Archaeologically speaking, Syria is a disaster zone," she says. Theft from some of the country's poorly guarded regional museums has added to the toll—an 8th century BC Aramaic god from the Hama museum made Interpol's Most Wanted Works of Art poster in December — as has the wholesale plundering of thousands of half-excavated archaeological sites in Syria. Cunliffe, who hasn't visited Syria since the start of the uprising, bases her reporting on a network of Syrian volunteers who started documenting the depredations around them on a Facebook page, Syrian Heritage Under Threat. The Syrian government has sharply limited the number of foreign journalists entering the country, so these accounts cannot be independently verified.

Syria has been at the crossroads of culture and religion for millennia. The world's first agricultural societies are thought to have sprung upon its fertile plains, and Damascus is one of the longest continually inhabited city in the world, with early temples dating back an estimated 5000 years. Alexander the Great's Macedonian lieutenants built vast cities in Palmyra and Apamea, and the Apostle Paul sheltered in Damascus after his conversion to Christianity. Some of the country's Islamic mosques, still in use today, were built during the Prophet Muhammad's time.

According to Cunliffe, archaeologists have only just begun to understand the history that Syria's multitude of sites can tell. "There is still more to be found underground than decades of archaeological work have brought to the surface," she says. That bounty has long proved irresistible, but a mandatory 10-15-year prison sentence, enforced by the regime's ubiquitous secret police, curbed the worst of the looting. The sheer diversity of Syrian antiquities—everything from Mesopotamian cylinder seals, Roman statues, early Christian iconography, Jewish incantation bowls, and centuries-old Korans have passed through smuggler hands —means that the appetite for illicitly-acquired artifacts is unlikely to be sated.

If anything, the chaos will accentuate the demand for Syrian antiquities, says Lebanese archaeologist and journalist Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly, who documented the extensive looting of Iraqi antiquities in the wake of the 2003 U.S. invasion. "The Iraq war awakened a hunger for Middle East artifacts," she says. "Now private collectors follow conflict closely. With the collapse of the economy the easiest thing is to tell people to go dig." And, she adds, collectors now ask for specific items, and are willing to front the money to get them. Conservators at the Greco-Roman town of Apamea reported last spring that several mosaics, among them a stunning scene of young men frolicking in a swimming pool, had been spirited out of the ground by a professional team of looters driving a bulldozer and wielding specialized tools — a clear case of contract looting, says Bajjaly: "If it weren't already sold, nobody would take that kind of risk."

Abu Jabbar, a second-generation antiquities smuggler based in Beirut who goes by a professional nickname, says he has seen an explosion in amateur diggers in Syria, all trying to take advantage of the conflict to earn a few extra dollars, whether to buy bread or weapons. "War is an opportunity. For us, and for arms dealers," he says with a dark smile.

Responsibility for the country's cultural destruction falls on both sides of the conflict, from the military that shells ancient citadels to the rebels that hide within. The looting is being carried out by all sorts of opportunists. Abu Jabbar's most recent acquisition, a necklace of hammered-gold beads and large triangles he reckons is two centuries old, came to him via a provincial government official, he says. Abu Khaled, the smuggler with the alabaster statue, says that he has bought looted items from both sides. "Even the regime is dealing with antiquities, because they are collapsing economically. They need cash money to pay the shabiha [hired thugs]." Neither case could be independently verified.

(MORE: Choosing between cash and heritage in a warzone.)

Yet, both the Assad regime and the rebels have actively sought to use the destruction of Syria's heritage sites for propaganda purposes. The regime blames the FSA and "terrorists" for the looting, while the opposition highlights the military's indiscriminate use of heavy artillery against historic sites, like the 12th century Krac de Chevaliers fortress that was, before the uprising, one of the most visited destinations in Syria. Even the Facebook group has been accused of having an anti-regime bias, excising posts that may incriminate rebels. According to a member who did not want to be identified for fear of inciting a backlash, one such photo appeared to show a FSA soldier draped in a priest's stole, waving a processional cross looted from a Homs church.

Louay al-Moqdad, a FSA spokesperson based in Turkey, denies that the looting is organized by the FSA, but admits that some individuals may resort to looting in order to pursue their fight against the regime. "Sure, there are people who loot, but they work alone. If that is how they buy weapons to fight, we can't control them. It's revolution, we are not organized, and no one is supporting us."

Compared to the bloody, epochal struggle taking place across Syria, it is difficult to weigh the fate of a small alabaster statue, or even a thousand-year old castle. Abu Khaled, who occasionally works as a guide at an archaeological site near his home, knows better than most the value of an intact historical record. Still, says the Sunni Muslim, who has committed to helping his co-religionists across the border, "sometimes you have to make a sacrifice. How else will we overthrow Bashar?"

Aryn Baker is TIME's Middle East Bureau Chief, based in Beirut. Find her on Twitter at @arynebaker. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIMEWorld.

[Mark]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/activists-deadly-fighting-in-aleppos-historic-old-city-sets-fire-in-medieval-souks/2012/09/29/679f4978-0a12-11e2-9eea-333857f6a7bd_story.html

BEIRUT — A fire sparked by battles between Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops and rebel fighters tore through Aleppo's centuries-old covered market Saturday, burning wooden doors and scorching stone stalls and vaulted passageways. The souk is one of a half-dozen renowned cultural sites in the country that have become collateral damage in the civil war.

The damage to one of the best-preserved old souks in the Middle East was the worst yet to a UNESCO World Heritage site in Syria. Across the country, looters have broken into a historic castle, stolen artifacts from museums and damaged ruins in the ancient city of Palmyra, antiquities officials and Syrian experts say.

The Aleppo market, a major tourist attraction with its narrow stone alleys and stores selling perfume, fabrics and spices, had been the site of occasional gun battles and shelling for weeks. But amateur video posted Saturday showed wall-to-wall flames engulfing wooden doors as burning debris fell away from the storefronts. Activists said hundreds of shops were affected.

"It's a big loss and a tragedy that the old city has now been affected," Kishore Rao, director of UNESCO's World Heritage Center, told The Associated Press by telephone from Paris.

Most of the other sites recognized as heritage sites by UNESCO, the global cultural agency, are also believed to have suffered damage during the 18-month battle to oust Assad, Rao said. The ancient center of Aleppo — Syria's largest city — has been hit the hardest, he said.

"It is a very difficult and tragic situation there," said Ahmad al-Halabi, a local activist speaking by phone from the area. He said rebels and civilians were trying to control the blaze, but only had a few fire extinguishers.

The fire in the souk erupted late Friday and was still burning Saturday, following fierce fighting between regime troops and rebels trying to drive pro-Assad fighters out of the city of 3 million.

On Thursday, rebels launched what they said would be a "decisive battle" for the city, followed by days of heavy fighting, including shelling and street combat. Amateur video has shown rebels taking cover behind walls and makeshift barriers, attacking regime forces with grenades and assault rifles. Activists reported heavy shelling by pro-Assad troops.

Once considered a bastion of support for Assad, Aleppo has become the focus of the insurgency for the last two months, with rebels taking about half the city. Aleppo would be a major strategic prize: A rebel victory would give Syria's opposition a major stronghold near the Turrkish border, while a regime victory would give Assad some breathing space.

It's not clear what set off the fire in the old market, made of hundreds of stone stalls that line covered alleys with vaulted ceilings. Amateur footage posted online by activists showed flames engulfing the shops and rebels aiming a water hose at the fire. The shops' wooden doors, along with the clothes, fabrics and inside some of the businesses, helped fuel the blaze, activists said.

The market stalls lie beneath the city's towering 13th century citadel, where activists say regime troops and snipers have taken up positions.

The Syrian conflict has killed more than 30,000 people, according to activists. It has also wreaked widespread destruction, particularly in recent weeks as regime forces stepped up air strikes and shelling attacks, and rebels fired mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades. Entire neighborhoods in Syria's three largest cities — Aleppo, the capital Damascus and Homs — have been devastated.

A majority of Syria's 23 million people live in a thin western sliver of the country; in this territory, rebels have established positions in rural areas, while Assad's forces are trying to hold on to the cities.

Aleppo's old center was added in 1986 to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites. Of the medieval souks in the Middle East, Aleppo's was among the best-preserved, offering visitors a range of architectural styles covering hundreds of years, said Rodrigo Martin, a Brussels expert on Syrian historical sites.

"It was a unique example of medieval commercial architecture," said Martin, a spokesman for a group of experts who monitor damage to Syrian historical sites and cooperate with the U.N. cultural agency.

Some of the other prized cultural attractions have also suffered damage.

Earlier this year, looters broke into Crac des Chevaliers, one of the world's best-preserved Crusader castles, a Syrian antiquities official said at the time. Shelling also damaged the site, said Martin, citing amateur video.

The ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra were damaged by fighting, Martin said, according to reports he received from Syria. He said he had seen video that showed sculptures being taken away from Palmyra in a small truck.

The other World Heritage sites on UNESCO's list are the old center of Damascus, one of the most ancient cities in the Middle East; the ancient city of Bosra, once the capital of the Roman province of Arabia; and a group of some 40 villages of north-western Syria that date from the first to seventh centuries.

Rao, the World Heritage chief, said the U.N. agency has asked Syria's neighbors to be on the alert for attempts to smuggle looted objects out of the country. No incidents had been reported so far.

Lesser sites have also been affected in Syria. Regime shelling of neighborhoods where the opposition is holed up has smashed historic mosques, churches and souks in the central Homs province and elsewhere in the country. Looters have stolen artifacts from museums.

Martin said the Syrian regime bears the bulk of the responsibility for the destruction because it signed international agreements to protect cultural sites.

For at least two millennia, cultural sites have been threatened or destroyed by wars throughout the Mideast, Martin said.

"History continues, whatever we do," Martin said. "Mankind can just be really destructive."

[Mark]

http://www.france24.com/en/20120925-syrias-archaeological-heritage-falls-prey-war

Syria's archaeological heritage falls prey to war - FRANCE 24

AFP - Syria's extraordinary archaeological heritage has fallen prey to the fighting ravaging the country for more than 18 months, with destruction, theft and systematic looting on the rise.

In a country where corruption and trafficking of archaeological artefacts and treasures was already a chronic problem, widespread clashes and a power vacuum in some areas have led to an explosion of looting and illicit excavations.

"It is obvious that in such situations there is always an increase in looting, illegal excavations and smuggling," Veronique Dauge of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre told AFP by telephone.

"Remember what happened in Iraq in 2003."

Around 32,000 artefacts were looted from 12,000 archaeological sites in Iraq during the chaos that followed the US-led invasion in 2003, and 15,000 items were also looted from the Baghdad National Museum.

The Syrian army has often been accused of participating in the pillaging or tolerating such actions by civilians -- often in well organised trafficking bands.

In Reyhanli, a small Turkish village near the border with Syria, a newly arrived Syrian refugee from the famed ancient desert town of Palmyra told AFP that the museum there had been looted and reported large-scale theft at the site.

"These are the shabiha, the Assad gangs (militiamen) who do this," charged Abu Jabal, giving a fictitious name. "The army is there, and oversees everything."

An amateur video posted online on August 17 shows seven or eight sculptures and busts crammed into the back of a pick-up truck. Soldiers can be seen chatting alongside the vehicle.

"We have studied what our Syrian colleagues are saying, and it is indeed soldiers. Everything leads us to believe that the army is stealing antiquities in Palmyra and elsewhere," Spanish archaeologist Rodrigo Martin told AFP.

He is the spokesman for a team of archaeologists, Syrian and foreign, who formed the "Syrian Heritage in Danger" group, whose goal is to monitor what happens at archaeological sites, through a network of informants.

"Some sites have been the scene of fighting, others have been looted, and the military has given digging permits to gangs in exchange for their complicity in the conflict," Martin added.

"But even if we have many contacts, it is difficult to know what is really going on. We will discover the extent of the damage after the war."

His organisation has also received testimonies accusing rebel groups of resorting to smuggling in order to finance themselves. "We hear rumours, but it is very difficult to verify these," he said.

On September 12, The Times in London published an article in which a Lebanese antiquities dealer said insurgents had assembled groups of clandestine diggers to recover antiquities to finance their uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

"The rebels need arms and the antiquities are a good way to buy them," Abu Khaled was quoted as saying in the article.

In a report entitled "The Syrian archaeological heritage is in danger," the EU-funded Euromed Heritage organisation emphasises the danger currently posed to Syria's rich heritage by secret excavations.

"Clandestine excavations have posed a threat to Syrian history and heritage for many years. Unfortunately, current events have significantly increased this risk. Many groups have attempted to conduct secret excavations, starting with the security forces," the report said.

"The clandestine excavations have become objects of negotiation: they are tolerated by the authorities to anyone who agrees to stay away from the uprising or denounces activists."

For British archaeologist Emma Cunliffe, another specialist on Syria, what happened in 2003 in Iraq is now being repeated.

"Look at the prices of nice antiquities at auction at Christie's or Sotheby's: it's ridiculous! As long as there is this kind of demand on the international market, the looting will continue."

[Mark]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-old-city-20121017,0,4116287,full.story

Historic, once-bustling bazaar in Syria now a battleground

ALEPPO, Syria — The familiar passageways have turned hostile, the comforting labyrinth now a maze of menace.

But Abu Taher threaded his way Tuesday through the alleys of Aleppo's ancient Souk Madina, past piles of debris and charred storefronts, determined to see whether his textile shop had survived the recent conflagration. He came alone, risking his fate to the hidden gunmen seeking targets.

"It's our livelihood," he explained, abruptly bursting into tears, a man of 60 weeping amid the desolation.

PHOTOS: Living under siege: Life in Aleppo, Syria

Abu Taher found little sympathy, however, from a group of armed rebels camped out in front of a trashed pistachio emporium, 50 yards from the front lines and the current range of government marksmen. The rebels have seen many of their comrades killed as they battle the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"Why are you crying about a shop [when] people are dying?" one combatant with a Kalashnikov rifle dismissively asked the grieving merchant, who, like others, requested that he be identified with a nickname for security reasons. "Go back home, uncle."

His shop, as it turned out, was unscathed. But some nearby establishments had not survived the onslaught.

The devastating fire that broke out late last month as fighting raged around the ancient bazaar is said to have destroyed hundreds of shops. Many owners still don't know the fate of their businesses, their families' lifelines.

Aleppo's Old City, a United Nations-recognized World Heritage Site, has become a battleground. The core of the covered market is abandoned and dangerous, a place where rival snipers train their rifles and shells fall almost every afternoon. The shoppers and tourists are long gone.

The nearby medieval citadel, the city's signature landmark, remains a government stronghold. The historic Umayyad Mosque, meanwhile, has been a site of combat, changing hands in the last week. As of Tuesday, it was back under government control.

Preservationists worldwide have expressed concern for the fate of the sprawling bazaar of Aleppo, a Silk Road terminus. Once bustling, the passages beneath its vaulted stone arches are now lifeless except for scurrying cats and the occasional militiamen making their way through, wary of an attack that could come from any direction.

Opposition activists said government shelling started the recent blaze; wood structures and combustible goods such as clothing and draperies quickly fed the flames. But so far the cause remains unclear.

On Tuesday, several journalists who entered the dense warren saw considerable damage, but the epicenter of the blaze was unreachable because of snipers. Under rebel escort, visitors were advised to dash past various crossings on which government riflemen were said to have their weapons trained. Gunfire echoed in the passageways. The rebels, with little formal military training, have difficulty securing the jumble of lanes and alleys, making it a shooter's paradise.

Inside the souk, which is divided between rebel and government positions, an acrid odor hangs in the air. In several areas, shops show signs of fire damage. Others seem to have been looted. Shelling and fighting have reduced some sections to debris piles. Merchandise such as homemade brooms and rope lies scattered about.

Many establishments have shut down, including several of Aleppo's celebrated soap makers, whose olive-oil-based products fetch premium prices in Paris and Berlin.

Still, in the sections that were accessible Tuesday, the stone archways, hanging lamps and massive wooden doors separating areas of the market appeared largely intact. But the souk is a massive place, covering several square miles, and the full extent of the damage remained unclear.

Whatever the fate of the bazaar's physical structure, the fighting has been a disaster for residents and merchants.

Shop owners speak of distant forebears who sold goods from the same spot. The souk has long been a mainstay of the economy in Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub.

"I think it was my grandfather's grandfather who started here," said one businessman.

Many Old City denizens seem to bristle with resentment at the opposition force, which they view as having brought war to their enclave. Most of the fighters appear to be from rural areas, fueling the sense of division between rebels and residents.

In Aleppo, bread lines are ubiquitous, garbage sits on the streets and government artillery and aerial strikes continue without letup. Attack helicopters and fighter jets regularly make passes over the city, sometimes firing, sometimes simply stoking fear or observing ground movement.

Yet some shops still do a brisk business selling vegetables and other goods on the streets of the Old City, and children play in the alleyways. People are trying to go about their normal lives.

"Prices have gotten so high, and there is shelling every day," said one elderly shopper, who was quickly quieted by another man.

Residents clearly refrain from speaking negatively in front of the rebels. Shopkeepers out on the streets seem to avoid eye contact with the rifle-wielding young men patrolling the cobblestones.

"We're caught between two sides, and we're with neither of them," said one merchant, who, like others, wanted to give only his first name, Hussein.

As the fires raged Sept. 29, Hussein recalled, he and others used buckets of water from an ancient bathhouse to try to douse the flames. No firefighters responded.

Hussein said a wooden stairway, said to date from the 12th century, collapsed as volunteers struggled to control the blaze. The flames were finally stopped three doors from his family's clothing shop, he said.

His family has no plans to leave the souk, said Hussein, the eldest male of eight children, all involved in commerce.

"Once you are from the Old City, it's very hard to leave here, because it becomes part of you," he said, standing beneath an archway, out of earshot of the nearby rebels and somewhat protected from the shrapnel.

Soon the afternoon shelling began anew, shaking the ground of the venerable Old City.

"This is a heritage we were proud of," Hussein said. "Now we fear it will be gone."

[Mark]

From agade:

1. http://youtu.be/7RdinwkQpOg

Syrian authorities have completely destroyed buildings dated to the Roman period on 03. 01. 2013, using a bulldozer under the protection of a tank and a hand of soldiers of the official army. They have destroyed these buildings because, they said, FSA members were hiding in them, despite the presence of several checkpoints of the official army in the city and their ability to protect these buildings.

This barbarian act might encourage the two parties in conflict to destroy archaeological monuments if the institutions in charge of the preservation of the heritage, the archaeology and the museum does not intervene.

2. http://youtu.be/oaNUzCN-ETk

*Aleppo: The main entrance to the Aleppo Citadel has suffered damage in the fights between the FSA forces and the official army. In the present circumstances, the citadel is exposed to other damage for it has become a military position and a sniper platform, and the FSA forces are trying to gain control over it.

[Mark]

Grave Robbers and War Steal Syria's History, by Bryan Denton for The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/world/middleeast/syrian-war-devastates-ancient-sites.html

A fighter opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, Mr. Shibleh was roaming beneath Ebla, an ancient ruin that for several decades has been one of Syria's most carefully studied and publicly celebrated archaeological sites. He had just made another of his many finds: he lifted something resembling a dried stick, then squeezed it between his fingers and thumb.

It broke with a powdery snap. "This is human bone," he said.

Across much of Syria, the country's archaeological heritage is imperiled by war, facing threats ranging from outright destruction by bombs and bullets to opportunistic digging by treasure hunters who take advantage of the power vacuum to prowl the country with spades and shovels. Fighting has raged around the Roman ruins of Palmyra, the ancient city in central Syria, once known as the Bride of the Desert. And the Syrian Army has established active garrisons at some of the country's most treasured and antiquated citadels, including castles at Aleppo, Hama and Homs.

For decades Ebla has been celebrated for the insights it offers into early Syrian civilization. The scenes here today offer something else: a prime example of a peculiar phenomenon of Syria's civil war — scores, if not hundreds, of archaeological sites, often built and inhabited millenniums ago because of their military value, now at risk as they are put to military use once more.

Seen from afar, Ebla is a mound rising above the Idlib plain. It was first settled more than 5,000 years ago. It eventually became a fortified walled city whose residents worshiped multiple gods, and traded olive oil and beer across Mesopotamia. The city was destroyed around 2200 B.C., flourished anew several centuries later and then was destroyed again.

The latest disruption came after war began in 2011. Once rebels pushed the army back and into nearby garrisons, the outcropping upon which Ebla rests presented a modern martial utility: it was ideal for spotting passing government military planes.

And so Mr. Shibleh and several other fighters have been posted on the mound with two-way radios, to report the approaches of the MIG and Sukhoi attack jets that have repeatedly dropped bombs on cities and towns that have fallen from Mr. Assad's control.

"I keep a watch here," he said.

He and other members of his fighting group, which calls itself The Arrows of the Right, perform a dual duty. They say they also try to protect Ebla from full-on looting by thieves who want to sort through the place with earth-moving equipment, looking for artifacts to sell on the black market.

But even if the presence of The Arrows of the Right may have prevented the site from being scoured by bulldozer blades, it has brought harm. Ebla, occupied by even a few rebels, is suffering the effects of more traffic, damage and theft.

Mr. Shibleh himself digs on the ancient mound, and he has explored its underground passages. He led the way on this day into a series of ancient crypts.

"It is another country underground," he said, crawling on his chest through tunnels he clearly knew well.

In one section of tunnel, Mr. Shibleh found a large scoop-shaped piece of bone that appeared to be as light as a wafer. It had been part of a human head. "There were too many skulls," he said. "The cave here was full of them."

Those skulls, he said, are now gone — removed by artifact hunters and then thrown away.

Grave sites are potential spots to find jewelry or figurines, as some corpses were interred with offerings and possessions. This has made Ebla, like hundreds of other sites in a country that sometimes refers to itself as an open-air archaeological museum, a tempting spot for thieves.

Ebla's crypts have not been the source of its fame. In the 1960s and 1970s the city's prominence was restored and its name became well known among archaeologists when an archaeological mission led by an Italian, Paolo Matthiae, discovered the city-state's long buried archive, which held more than 16,000 stone tablets.

As they have been translated from cuneiform script, these records written on stone have shed light on the administration, trade, theology and life in a city from another time.

"Ebla was the most important and prominent kingdom in the era of 3000 B.C.," said Cheikhmous Ali, a Syrian archaeologist and an organizer of Protect Syrian Archaeology, an association that has been documenting damage and theft of Syrian antiquities.

The Ebla tablets, he said, along with another set found in Tal Baidar, "are considered the most ancient cuneiform texts in Syria."

The meticulous excavation of Ebla's ruins had continued in the decades since the tablets were unearthed, and layer by layer had turned up more artifacts. Archaeologists had left much of the site undisturbed, for careful sifting by future teams. They hoped for more finds.

That methodical examination has recently been replaced by crude digging and crime.

After Mr. Shibleh returned above ground, children were digging holes in the undisturbed sections of the mound, seeking more artifacts. Mr. Shibleh said some people also come to the site and haul away carloads of dirt from inside the tunnels; it is ideal, he said, for making the ceramic liner for bread-baking ovens.

Dr. Matthiae did not reply to e-mail messages. But after being shown photographs taken by The New York Times of the digging and intrusion into the crypts at Ebla, Mr. Ali was dismayed. He compared the continuing damage to the destruction of antiquities in Iraq after the American-led invasion in 2003.

"This is vandalism," he said. "Destroying the site by throwing the skeletons haphazardly here and there."

He added: "A whole civilization belonging to all humanity is being destroyed."

Mr. Ali and Maamoun Abdul-Karim, who leads the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums in Syria, said that archaeologists on both sides of the war have appealed to the combatants to avoid using ancient sites for military purposes, and to protect ruins from vandals, looters and thieves.

The effort has had only a limited effect. "Even before the situation in Syria now, we didn't have very good control," Dr. Abdul-Karim said.

Dr. Abdul-Karim said his ministry has repeatedly asked the Syrian military to refrain from occupying ancient fortresses and historic places.

With military garrisons come almost casual damage — from foot and vehicular traffic, makeshift construction, digging for bunkers and sandbags, the use of open latrines, graffiti and more — as well as the risks to the ruins from bombs and bullets.

"To the soldiers, we try by all messages from 23 million Syrians, to say: 'Do not use the archaeology sites. It is our history, it is our heritage, it is for all people, it is for the world.' "

"We cannot refuse the army," he said ruefully. "The problem is that in some areas the fighting is very strong, and we can do nothing except to give the message."