Weep For Palmyra!

Sheri Laizer | Exclusive to iKurd.net

Weep for Palmyra, fallen to plunderers, the blight of the century. Our eyes are blackened by a veil of pain.

“Perch on the hilltop behind these stunning Roman ruins at dawn and marvel at the vastness of the site,” opined the authors of the Lonely Planet Guide to Syria and Lebanon in 2004. “Known to the locals as Tadmor (its ancient Semitic name), Palmyra is Syria’s prime attraction and one of the world’s most splendid historical sites…”[1]

The writing was on the wall from the moment the barbarians entered the ancient site late in May and staged mass executions of their prisoners exploiting underage youths to carry out the grim rite. In a video released by ISIS, “…behind each condemned man stands a child executioner, all wearing desert camouflage and brown bandanas, many of whom appear to be no older than 12 or 13 years old. ISIS fighters can be seen standing or sitting on top of the ancient ruins, watching over the crowd as they wait for the slaughter…” [2]

President Bashar al-Assad, Syrian opposition groups, and the international community, have all failed. We have seen our houses demolished before our eyes, our children slaughtered, our women and girls raped and UNESCO sites devastated – still it continues unpunished. As with the Vandals that sacked Rome, the marauders of Daesh devoid of conscience, of reason and of respect for the stature of our past civilisation, unleash ruin and pain.

In contrast, the colossal Roman temple sites at Anjar and Baalbek in Lebanon’s Beka’a valley – not far from dismal camps of Syrian refugees – are unlikely to be destroyed while under Shi’ite militia Hezbollah’s control. But from Sinjar to Nineveh, Mosul, to Hatra, Palmyra to Aleppo, the devastation wrought by Daesh and other extremist groups over the past year is irrevocable: it is like living with murderers in your house.

Darkness characterises Daesh with its black flags and concept of society deserving only to obey a dark and punitive “God.” Its parades of death are an affront to the very concept of “God” as Creator and Protector. Ironic also, its view of “Paradise”, substituting the exuberance of this life with an impossible goal of sporting with 72 virgins and until such time, seizing the enemy’s women and reducing them to sex slaves. According to one recent publication, “When it is expedient, Isis indulges in religious argument…to justify its capture and sale of sexual slaves…Isis seeks to stimulate more than to convince. Its propaganda and recruiting materials are overwhelmingly visceral, from scenes of graphic violence to pastoral visions of a utopian society that seems to thrive, somehow, in the midst of a war zone…”[3]

Recruiting thugs

The hordes joining Daesh from the West play as cruelly as children at computer games, executing their ‘enemies’ as with the click of a button. “Identity-based extremism is frequently concerned with themes of purification, and the message of Isis…extremism itself, purified.”[4]

Islamist extremist attacks on religious minorities and cultural targets in the West, like Charlie Hebdo magazine, and the destruction of ancient architecture and art works throughout the Middle East have taken place on a devastating scale.

“…It’s also highly recommended that you see the site both at sunrise, when the early morning light infuses the stone with a rich pink hue, and again at sunset, ideally watching the sun drain from the ruins from the vantage point of the castle or the rocky outcrops to the south.”[5]

Weep for Palmyra, fallen to plunderers – the blight of the century. Our eyes are blackened by a veil of pain.

[1] Syria and Lebanon Lonely Planet, 2004, frontispiece map and p. 204
[2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3149469/Slaughter-amphitheatre-ISIS-executioners-brutally-shoot-dead-25-Syrian-regime-soldiers-bloodthirsty-crowds-ancient-Palmyra-ruin.html
[3] Extracted from ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and JM Berger, published by HarperCollins on 12 March published at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/09/how-isis-attracts-foreign-fighters-the-state-of-terror-book
[4] Op Cit.
[5] Op. Cit. p.205

Sheri Laizer, a Middle East and North African expert specialist and well known commentator on the Kurdish issue. She is a senior contributing writer for iKurd.net. More about Sheri Laizer see below.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.