1ISBN (978-9953-0-3084-5)

2Unique Among Nations

The past four years of war in Syria have taken a tollupon a people and a nation, as well as upon an inordinately rich cultural heritage that has come under attack also. Churches, mosques, historical neighborhoods and monuments, archaeological sites all have been hit, and in some cases quite hard.

Syrias Endangered Heritage, scheduled for publication in early 2015, looks at the past four years of war from two unique perspectives. It doc-uments destruction at heritage sites throughout the country, the ruin and devastation wrought by thieves, religious extremists and black market-eers, yet it also examines the resolve of the Syrian people, many of whom have come together in concerted efforts to preserve the past. The book, for instance, tells the story of a group of Syrian students, supervised by two trained archaeologists, who worked to restore a 1400-year-old mosaic hit by a mortar shell, and it relates also efforts by the courageous staff of DGAM, the Directorate- General of Antiquities and Museums, to safeguard ancient artifacts in some of the most dangerous areas of the country. And perhaps most importantly of all, the book outlines concrete steps the inter-national community can, and must, takenay the very genuine obligation it bearsto assist the Syrian people in curtailing the onslaught upon their national heritage and identity.

War exerts more than a human cost. Since the outbreak of hos-tilities in Syria in the spring of 2011, the countrys cultural heritage sites have sustained repeated attacks, depredations and deliberate defacements. Museums have been pillaged, historical monuments have been damaged or destroyed, while archaeological sites in areas

3of the country outside of government control have been gouged and lacerated with illegal excavations, often carried out by mafia-like gangs using heavy equipment, resulting in the plunder of artifactsartifacts that in turn are smuggled out of the country, ending up in many cases in auction houses in places like London and New York. Blatant violations of international laws occur, while officials in the countries of transit or final destination often turn a blind eye. The result is a grievous and ongoing assault upon Syrias cultural herit-age, which is the worlds cultural heritage.

So writes the books author, Dr. Franklin Lamb, in the opening chapter. Syrias cultural heritage is indeed the worlds cultural heritage, and Lambhimself a longtime resident of the Middle Eastnotes the rather exception-al, almost unique position the country holds among nations as keeper and steward of humanitys collective past:

4For many centuries the people of Syria and their institutions of government have been the protectors and custodians of much of our worlds heritage. Sites exist throughout the country containing antiquities, priceless treasures, from ancient Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek and Roman civilizations, dating back millennia. But today this rich heritage is under serious threat. In the view of Irina Bokova, director general of UNESCO, damage to the heritage of a country is damage to the soul of its people and its identity. Yet heritage destruction in Syria affects us all. If we think of human history collectively as a lepidopteron, drifting lazily from the flower of the Neolithic past, into the age of proto-writing, and finally early recorded history, then Syria and the Fertile Crescent stand out per-haps unique among regions of the earth. And damage to its soul is damage to our entire identity as a species.

In the ancient city of Palmyra, the Temple of Bel was hit by rocket fire, collapsing two of its columns, while illegal archaeological digs have taken place in Daraa, a city mentioned in Egyptian hieroglyphic tablets dating back to the fifteenth century BC- but perhaps nowhere in Syria has looting, violence and destruction been more wanton than in Raqqa, where the ter-rorist army known as ISIS, or DAASH, took control in 2013.

Destruction of Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo

5Table of Contents

Foreword ................................................................... by H.E. Besher Riad Yazji

Foreword ....................................................... by Dr. Maamoun Abdulkarim

Introduction ................................................................ by Dr. Franklin Lamb

Chapter 1 ................................................................ Years of War in Syria are Destroying Our Cultural Heritage: an Overview

Chapter 2 ............................ National and International Legal Protections for Syrias Cultural Heritage

Chapter 3 .................................................................................. Paradise Lost? A Silent Slaughter in RaqqaA Mosque Restored in Damascus

Chapter 4 .................................... This Never Happened in Our Country

Chapter 5 ...................... A Clarion Call to the International Community

Appendix ............................. Chart Listing Damaged Archaeological Sites

6Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently

The books third chapter relates events in the city of Raqqa, which prior to the war had a population of approximately 220,000, but which, since the arrival of DAASH, has been under a reign of terror marked by public ex-ecutions, beheadings, and crucifixions. The chapter includes the transcript of an interview conducted by Dr. Lamb with Ayham al Fakhri, a DGAM

In deference to our responsibility towards the people of Syria, we at the Directo-rate- General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) in the Ministry of Culture find ourselves racing against time in an attempt to minimize the impact of the crisis, to lessen its repercussions on our antiquities, in the face of this ongoing deterioration.

--Dr.Maamoun Abdulkarim

Destruction of National Museum in Raqqa

7staff member who was in Raqqa when armed groups first began arriving in the city and who describes the looting of the Raqqa Central Bank as well as the plundering of the Raqqa Museum and its nearby warehouses. At the start of the conflict DGAM had adopted a preemptive policy of trying to secure museum artifacts by transferring them to safer locations, but in Raqqa this strategy was circumvented by DAASH, as al Fakhri relates:

We immediately communicated with the DGAM, and they asked us to pile the doors of (the) warehouses with sandbags, take all the im-portant and precious pieces from the warehouses, and hide them in a safe place. And the guards house in Herqla village was the best choice. However in mid-November in 2013, an armed group, estimated to be about 100 armed fighters from DAASH, broke in the museum and also the guards house. They stole all the boxes except mosaic panels and took them to unknown destinations. After that happened, we closed all doors and windows with iron bars.

From a cultural heritage standpoint, it was a disaster, with approximately 900 artifacts stolen from the museum and an additional six to eight boxes of antiquities carted out of the warehouses. On April 25, 2014, DAASH militants used a massive, German-built Hydrema excavator to smash two statues of Assyrian lions believed to date to around 727 BC. The lions were regarded as being of pagan origin and an insult to Islam.

Damage to cultural heritage is a blow against the identity and history of the Syri-an people it is a blow against the universal heritage of humanity

UNESCO Director Irina Bokova

8Damage and Desecration of Religious Sites

The churchs massive golden dome was peppered with bullet and shrapnel holes; its marble altar had been shattered. A tableau repre-senting St. Elias had been torched, as had several icons. Across Yar-mouk Avenue, a mosque also had been badly damaged, with half of its minaret destroyed, the prayer hall covered with debris from bombard-ments, and the floor littered with shards of glass.

Churches and mosques, as the above passage relates, were both targeted when armed rebels stormed into the Syrian village of Qusayr in 2012, with Christians being forced to flee the area, as militants carried out deliber-ate acts of religious desecration. But in Qusayr, located near the Lebanese border, it wasnt only Christians who suffered in this regard. A perusal of

Al-Nusra militants are being identified as some of the most active dealers of black market antiquities of the Middle East. Lebanese media have reported that a great number of ancient icons, crosses, reliquaries and statues have been smuggled from

Syria into Lebanon and then sent abroad. Local smugglers are said by INTERPOL to be moving hundreds of Maaloulas artifacts, transporting them to European countries,

with the main destinations being Turkey and Italy. from Syrias Endangered Heritage

9vandalism reports shows that as radical Islamists invade an area in great-er and greater numbers, their wrath is directed at Muslims they consider to be heretics, Lamb notes, and damage also hit the Grand Mosque of Qusayr, where a 200-year-old tomb was desecrated and broken to pieces. BBC reporter Lyse Doucet reported from Qusayr in June of 2013 after the village was retaken in a combined offensive mounted by government and Hezbollah forces: The Church of Saint Elias was not just destroyed, it was

Some of the staff and students are also involved in restoring other mosaics, and the team makes use of a classroom and workshop space set up for them at the Citadel of Damascus, a large medieval fortified palace that is part of the Ancient City of Da-mascus, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Other areas of the Great Mosque of Damas-

cusalso damaged in the mortar barragehave already been repaired. from Syrias Endangered Heritage

Destruction of Um al-Zennar Church in Homs

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desecrated, said Doucet, standing amidst the churchs still smoldering ru-ins. The social fabric of this society has been ripped apart.

Throughout the war widespread destruction of religious sites has also taken place in the Christian village of Maaloulawhere militants of Jabhat al-Nusra destroyed monasteries, churches and archaeological cemeteriesand also Aleppo, whose famed, millennium-old Great Mosque became the scene of intense fighting in early 2013, resulting in total destruction of the mosques 148-foot minaret. These attacksupon the religious sites of Maaloula, as well as the destruction visited upon the Great Mosqueare documented and described at length in the book. The greatest sources of discord and factionalism, more so perhaps than anything else in war, are attacks upon religious sites, and in both Maaloula and Aleppo the social fabric of the society has, in a very real sense, been ripped apart.

A Chat With Syrian StudentsYet there are also signs of a remarkably positive and hopeful nature,

and one of these is the way many Syrians of varying backgrounds and from different regions of the country have come together with the common purpose of preserving their national heritage. One of the most inspiring

The country of Syriait is, in the view of some travelers who come here, a giant museum, and in reality that might not be a bad way of looking at it. For this land, in addition to its people, is also inhabited by a rather sizeable populace of ancient mon-

uments, some of them stretching back some twenty civilizations into the past. H.E. Besher Riad Yazji

Minister of Tourism

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examples of this is a group of students from Damascus University and the Institute of Archaeology who have worked to restore a large mosaic dam-aged by mortar fire at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascusand in chapter four of the book the students give their thoughts on the work they are do-ing and the conflict in their country. Dr. Lambs interview with them took place in May of 2014.

With Allah as my witness, I feel secure, somehow, being deep inside these ancient walls, and I wish my family were here with me, said Jilan, an English literature student at Damascus University. I feel that I am doing something use-ful during this terrible time, and that I am showing confidence in my beloved country, that we will somehow get through this and eventually rebuild what has been damaged.

Another student working on the project is Abed, who is studying engi-neering. The Obama administration should seriously consider hiring Abed as a political advisor, for doubtless he would give them better advice than what they currently are getting:

Mr. Lamb with syrian students in Damascus citadel

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Most of my friends believe that outsiders are keeping the war going because they think they can win it. Does the USA really know or un-derstand who they are arming and what the fighters will do after you give them training? Do you think these jihadists love you because you helped them against a nationalist Arab regime which rejects the Zionist occupation of Palestine? We worry about when it will end. Who can stop it if other countries keep feeding the killing?

Abeds remarks, keep in mind, were made in May of 2014three months before ISIS began releasing videos of beheaded Westernersgiving an al-most prescient quality to the young students words.

A Clarion Call to the International Community

Syrias Endangered Heritage provides a comprehensive analysis of exist-ing laws, treaties and international agreements on cultural heritage protec-tions now in placeand finds that, without exception, they are inadequate. None have achieved their hoped-for potential.

Lootings, thefts, illegal excavations and smuggling of irreplaceable antiquities have continued, even in the face of public outcries in past decades over reports of cultural heritage destruction in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Serbia and Iraq. What is missing is a widespread, transnation-al governmental commitment to cooperate. Political leaders, along with elements of power structures residing in certain countries, including some business interests harboring criminal intent, have far too often turned a blind eye to unprovenanced archaeological artifacts in the marketplace. This amounts to implied consent to the selling of our past, and it has diluted and undermined the legal mechanisms and the en-forcement of applicable national and international laws. The result of this is that our global cultural heritage in Syria remains under serious threat.

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To remedy this, the book proposes a slate of recommendations that in-clude:

A more precise legal definition of what constitutes cultural property

Creation of a UN regime to establish defined intensities of protection

Give the International Criminal Court jurisdiction, under Pro-tocol I of the 1954 Hague Convention, to prosecute those who de-stroy or deliberately target heritage property

Mandatory international trusteeship legal standards applied to all global cultural sites, irrespective of location

A grassroots campaign, undertaken globally, to pressure govern-ments to ensure strict application and enforcement of available laws

Especially key to the strategy is the last item, the global grassroots cam-paign, which should have as a central part of its focus the worldwide ratifi-cation, by all governments, of Protocol II of the 1970 UNESCO Convention as well as the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.

It is the duty of every person of good will to offer assistance and support for efforts being undertaken in Syria and elsewhere to pre-serve and protect the global cultural heritage of humani-ty. Working together, we can achieve this.

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