According to Michael Danti, co-director of the Syrian Heritage Initiative, the vast majority of the sites that the extremist group ISIS has recently destroyed are from the Islamic era. Shrines demolished at Palmyra are the tombs of Nizar Abu Bahaaeddine, a Sufi scholar who lived there 500 years ago, and Mohammed Bin Ali, a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin, Imam Ali, and a historical place revered by Shiites. “The destruction of cultural heritage has become part of [ISIS’] tool kit,” says Danti.
