Of course, many of Syria’s historic cities have been devastated by the bitter fighting between government and rebel forces too, with much of ancient Aleppo, the “Vienna of the Middle East”, reduced to rubble in recent years. In a very public wave of destruction, Isis razed Palmyra’s 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel, which in more peaceful times attracted 150,000 tourists a year, dynamited the smaller Temple of Baalshamin, destroyed numerous venerable statues, and laid waste to the tombs of two Muslim holy men. Even so, the ravaging of the ancient city of Palmyra by the militant group Isis earlier this year was particularly shocking for its deliberate targeting of the Syrian city’s irreplaceable architectural heritage. Throughout urban history cities have been regularly torn apart as collateral damage in wars and rebellions.
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