Early Tuesday morning, the United Nations released satellite images that showed the extremist Islamic group ISIS had destroyed the Temple of Bel, a nearly 2,000-year-old historical site in the city of Palmyra, Syria.
"Unfortunately, the images we acquired do show that the main building of the temple has been destroyed," Einar Bjorgo, a manager of Unosat, a company that analyzed the images, told the BBC Tuesday.
Conflicting reports came out this week about whether or not ISIS had blown up the Temple of Bel. BBC reported Monday that the temple hadn’t been completely destroyed. In fact, Syria’s antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said there was a large explosion outside the perimeter and the temple’s basic structure remained intact.
But the UN images released Tuesday show that ISIS has destroyed the temple.
The Temple of Bel was built during Greco-Roman times in the Syrian desert. It’s dedicated to the Palmyrene gods, who were honored before modern religions surfaced in that part of the world, according to BBC.
Here’s what the temple looked like before it was destroyed:
The Palmyra temple is just one of several ancient ruin sites that have recently been targeted by ISIS.
For example, last week ISIS reportedly blew up the small Baalshamin temple, also known as the “Pearl of the Desert,” according to AL Jazeera. Like the Temple of Bel, the Baalshamin temple was 2,000 years old and was located in Palmyra close to the Temple of Bel, according to Al Jazeera. Baalshamin was one of two supreme gods in pre-Christian times, with Bel being the other god.
And earlier this summer, ISIS destroyed historical artifacts in both Syria and Iraq, including at least a half-dozen statues in Palmyra and an Iraq tomb from the 13th century, The New York Times reported.
Despite the Islamic extremist’s attacks on historical sites, it’s important to remember not to blame Islamic scripture for these attacks, authorities say. William McCants of Foreign Affairs wrote in June that ISIS often ignores parts of Islamic scripture and only uses it to recruit new members. The extreme attacks on the Middle East are not related to the scripture, he wrote.
In fact, McCants argued that scripture — whether Christian, Islamic or of another faith — rarely promotes extremist behaviors.
“Consider the Gospels, Scriptures that advocate far less violence than the Koran or the Hebrew Bible,” McCants wrote. “Jesus taught his followers to turn the other cheek. Yet the crusaders murdered thousands in their rampage across the Middle East, and U.S. President George W. Bush, a devout Christian, invaded Iraq without military provocation. Readers may object to these examples, arguing that other factors were at play — but that is exactly the point: Christian Scripture doesn’t always determine the behavior of its followers, and the same goes for Islamic Scripture.”
This story has been updated to reflect new information.
For more on ISIS:
Ebola, ISIS and how to find balance in a culture of fear
The first American to die in the fight against ISIS credits God for motivating him
Experts say what governments won’t: ISIS atrocities are genocide
Herb Scribner is a writer for Deseret News National. Send him an email at hscribner@deseretdigital.com or follow him on Twitter @herbscribner.