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Hammering History

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Current Affairs/SYRIA Alongside the tragic loss of life and human suffering hilltop fortress was built by another so-called army of God that battled Muslim forces for control of the Holy in Syria, some of the country's treasured antiquities, Land in medieval times. But such historical twists can- including the iconic Krak des Chevaliers Crusader castle not mask that regime artillery is steadily pounding the near Homs, have been destroyed or damaged in the civil famous fortress' massive stone walls and towers every day, amid a build-up to what observers believe will be a war. This latest catastrophe marks more than a decade of major battle for control of the countryside around the destruction for the ancient heritage of much of the Arab city of Homs, 25 miles to the east and just north of the Lebanese border. world as well, starting with the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Syrian war, which moved into its fourth year in By Ed Blanche March, has killed some 130,000 people, according to the UN count, but it has also hit the country's 5,000-year historical heritage as well, including sites that have stood since the dawn of civilisation. Hammering History "Archeological sites in Syria are on the front lines of conflict and experiencing heavy damage," observed Emma Cunliffe of the Global Heritage Network, a PhD researcher at Durham University in northern England and author of Damage to the Soul, Syria's Cultural Herit- ust outside the battle-scarred Syrian city of age of Conflict. Homs, Bashar Assad's army and air force are The Lebanese daily Al Akhbar reports that several pounding one of the country's most iconic hundred rebels are besieged inside the castle, which com- historical sites, the Crusader castle, the Krak mands the roads in the strategic region between Homs des Chevaliers built by the Knights Hospitaller and the Mediterranean port of Tartous - just as it did in the 13"" century, with artillery fire and air when the castle, known as Qalaat al-Hush in Arabic, was strikes, trying to dislodge a couple of hundred rebuilt in its present form by the Hospitaller Order of St. Islamist rebels who have been squatting there John of Jerusalem, which with the Knights Templar was for months. There is an historical irony here, since the one of the most formidable Christian military formations 26 The Middle East April 2014 n Egypt, which has been trapped in a storm of political turmoil since the Arab Awakening that began in January 2011, looters ransacked the I Malawi Museum in the southern Nile city of Minya in August 2013, making off with more than 1,000 artifacts. These included a 3,500 year-old statue of the daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten who ruled during the 18th dynasty, in the biggest theft of its kind in living memory. On 24 January, a truck bomb, aimed at Cairo's police headquarters, ripped through the Museum of Islamic Art and its world-renowned collection of art from across the Muslim world, some from Islam's Golden Era. The blast shattered 74 of the 1,471 precious artifacts on display. Another 90 were damaged, although the then-antiquities minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, said some were repairable. Meantime, in the political turbulence that brought the end of Hosni Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship and which, three years later, still wracks the Middle East, Egypt's fabled heritage is being increasingly threatened by illegal archeological digs by criminal gangs of tomb raiders, as well as illegal construction that's encroaching on the ancient, largely unexplored pyramids. of the Crusades, between 1142 and 1271. The Crusader The last decade has not been kind to the Middle East's castle, the Krak des archaeological heritage. First, Iraq's priceless treasures Chevaliers built by the were looted in the chaos that followed the US-British Knights Hospitaller in the IS"* century is invasion of March 2003. Egypt's treasure house has also being pounded with suffered heavily since the violent downfall of Hosni artillery fire and air Mubarak in the so-called Arab Spring and now the ar- strikes, chaeological wonders of Syria are being destroyed and damaged in the civil war. In Syria, the rebels, including a large contingent of Lebanese Salafists led by a seasoned fighter named Khaled Al Mahmoud, have held the Krak for several months despite heavy bombardment. Damage is reported to be heavy at what was once considered to be one of the best-preserved Crusader castles in existence. One of the Krak's towers was blown up in a regime air strike in July 2013. Videos posted online at the time by rebel forces showed a massive explosion when the tower took a direct hit by a bomb. Most of the fighting has been around the nearby vil- PARTS OF ALEPPO, ONE OF lages of Al Zara and Al Hosn. But now, regime forces are closing in. This has triggered fears that the Syrian army, THE OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY which has a propensity for relying on often indiscriminate INHABITED CITIES IN THE WORLD, air strikes and artillery shelling in such confrontations, THAT SAT ASTRIDE THE ANCIENT will inflict serious damage on the historic edifice. "The castle was damaged by a Syrian air strike and TRADING ARTERIES, INCLUDING mortar fire last year and the Syrian government says it THE FABLED SILK ROAD April 2014 The Middle East 27 Current Affairs/SYRIA it is eager to prevent further damage," observed veteran Middle East writer Patrick Cockburn. The Governor of Homs, Talal Al Barazi, says the re- gime is conscious of Krak's historic significance and will do everything to avoid damaging the fortress that in its day was considered the greatest in all of Christendom, Even the mighty Saladin was never able to capture Krak, which finally fell to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in 1271, "It could probably give a good account of itself still," says Cockburn, who has written extensively on the rich historical heritage of Syria that's being pulverised by both sides in a brutal civil war that may drag on for years, "Krak might well be spared for the moment, but no monument, however famous, is safe in Syria, as was shown by the destruction of the medieval market and the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo" in 2013, Cockburn noted. Much of the northern city, once Syria's commercial heart, is now in ruins after 18 months of fierce fighting there. The souq was one of the world's oldest covered mar- ketplaces, Aleppo's world-renowned Umayyad Mosque, built after the Arab conquest of the city in 634 AD, was badly damaged and its 11* century 148-foot-high minaret was "totally destroyed" by tank fire. Today, it antique furnishings and intricately sculpted colonnades have been wrecked and lie in piles of rubble on the tiled courtyard. Fierce house-to-house street fighting also destroyed the 5,000-year-old Temple of the Storm God beneath the city's ramparts. There have been reports of extensive looting, including a box that purportedly contained a strand of the Prophet Mohammed's hair. The Roman ruins at Palmyra in central Syria have also been damaged by the fighting. Government soldiers ripped up ancient stone from the ruins to build defences. The United Nations' cultural organisation, UNESCO, had declared the mosque a World Heritage site, one of six in Syria. It says all are now "endangered". The Krak was put on the World Heritage list in 2006. In a recent report on the damage to Syria's historic sites, the Global Heritage Network detailed the many civilisations that made the country, the cultural and commercial crossroads between ancient Egypt, Arabia and Asia, a treasure house of antiquities, "Numerous Bronze Age civilisations left their suc- cessive marks, including the Babylonians, the Assyrians and the Hittites," it said. "They, in turn were replaced by the Greeks, the Sasanians, the Persians, the Romans and the Arabs, many of whom chose Syrian cities as their capitals. The European Crusaders came and left some of the most impressive castles known, and the Ottoman Empire also made its mark, "All these cultures co-existed and confiicted, forming powerful rebel groups and certainly the most fanatically Palmyra's Roman something new and special, and which is found nowhere fundamentalist, have been destroying archaeological ruins (top) and else in the world." treasures such as Byzantine mosaics and Greek and Ro- Aleppo's world man status because their representation of the human renowned Umayyad Cunliffe says parts of Aleppo, one of the oldest con- Mosque have been tinuously inhabited cities in the world that sat astride form is considered idolatrous and offensive. badly damaged by the ancient trading arteries, including the fabled Silk This "systematic destruction of antiquities may be the fighting Road that linked East and West, have been irreparably worst disaster to ancient monuments since the Taliban damaged. dynamited the giant statues of Bamiyan in 2001," Cock- In northern Syria, jihadist groups, including the burn lamented. Looters are everywhere in Syria. More Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, one of the most than 12 of the country's 36 museums have been plundered 28 The Middle East April 2014 ven in remote Timbuktu, Mali's unique cultural heritage suffered in systematic attacks by Islamist militants who occupied E the region briefly in 2012-2013. "We thought only nine mausoleums from the World Heritage List were damaged, but actually, we had 14 mausoleum damaged," said Lazare Eloundou Assomo, leader of a UNESCO team that inspected the ancient city deep in the Sahel.
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