IS enters Palmyra museum: Syria antiquities chief

DAMASCUS: Islamic State group fighters have entered the museum in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, placing guards at its doors, the country’s antiquities director Mamoun Abdulkarim said on Saturday.
He also confirmed that the Jihadist group had raised their flag over the ancient citadel that overlooks some of the spectacular Greco-Roman ruins in the city.
Speaking at a press conference in Damascus, Abdulkarim said some modern plaster statues in the museum had been destroyed but he did not report any damage to antiquities in the building.
The Jihadists on Thursday “entered the museum and broke some plaster statues... that were being used to represent life in prehistoric eras.”
They returned on Friday, and when they left, “they closed the doors behind them and placed their guards” at the entrance of the museum, Abdulkarim said, citing residents still in the town.
Most of the antiquities in the museum were removed and brought to Damascus before IS cemented its control of Palmyra on Thursday.
“There’s almost nothing left in the museum, we had been progressively transferring the antiquities to Damascus,” he told AFP after the press conference.
“But there are still the large items, like the sarcophagi, which weigh three or four tonnes and we could not move, those are what worry me.” The Roman-Byzantine sarcophagi feature high-relief carvings.