Syria hopes vacationers will return to Palmyra, scarred by struggle : NPR

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PALMYRA, Syria, 02/21/25 Palmyra’s ancient theater which was used by ISIS for public executions during the group’s takeover of the region. Syrians are hoping for a return of tourists now that the country has reopened to international visitors after the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to rebel fighters last December. Ayman Oghanna for NPR

Palmyra’s historic theater, seen on Feb. 21, was utilized by ISIS for public executions through the group’s takeover of the area. Syrians are hoping for a return of vacationers now that the nation has reopened to worldwide guests after the autumn of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to insurgent fighters final December.

Ayman Oghanna for NPR


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Ayman Oghanna for NPR

PALMYRA, Syria — This historic metropolis, as soon as one of the crucial essential stops on the Silk Street, bears the scars of ISIS assaults and greater than a decade of Syria’s civil struggle. It additionally carries Syrian hopes of reviving the nation’s wealthy archaeological legacy.

Palmyra is a UNESCO World Heritage Website — inhabited for hundreds of years earlier than it grew to become a thriving Roman metropolis on the crossroads between East and West within the 1st century CE.

The traditional website is essentially abandoned now, as is the close by fashionable metropolis, additionally named Palmyra.

Residents are hoping for a return of vacationers now that the nation has reopened to worldwide guests after the autumn of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to insurgent fighters final December. However the sound of gunfire within the distance from Syrian authorities fighters and U.S.-backed Syrian militia forces controlling the world is a reminder that not all is secure.

On this drizzly day in late January, Mahmoud Botman, a fighter from the U.S.-supported Syrian Free Military, factors out the toppled blocks from one of many many websites destroyed by ISIS in 2015 after its takeover of the area. Russian-backed Syrian forces retook Palmyra in 2016 — earlier than ISIS briefly captured it once more — and eventually drove out the Islamist militant group in 2017.

“I used to be right here in Tadmor metropolis,” in 2015, says Botman, utilizing the Arabic title for Palmyra. “They [ISIS] positioned explosives on the temple right here and detonated them.”

The temple the place he’s standing — Baalshamin — was devoted to a Mesopotamian god of the sky and was one of many principal options of the sprawling oasis metropolis the place caravans carried silk, spices and different items between Asia and Europe.

Earlier than 2015, the ruins of Palmyra have been thought-about among the many most intact of the huge Roman Empire. ISIS believed the pre-Islamic website was blasphemous. The group beheaded Palmyra’s head of antiquities, Khaled al-Assad, after which systematically blew up a number of of the traditional metropolis’s most essential monuments.

The explosion on the Baalshamin temple toppled its towering stone columns, sending the roof and partitions tumbling and leaving solely piles of big stone blocks. ISIS additionally destroyed the landmark group of stone pillars on the finish of a colonnaded avenue and destroyed a part of the façade of the traditional theater earlier than utilizing it for public executions.

PALMYRA, Syria, 02/21/25 A young boy selling souvenirs above the ruins of Palmyra. The ancient site is largely deserted now, but locals are hoping for a return of tourists now that the country has reopened to international visitors after the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to rebel fighters last December. Ayman Oghanna for NPR

A younger boy promoting souvenirs above the ruins of Palmyra in February.

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Ayman Oghanna for NPR

Residents’ pleasure within the historic website

The few remaining residents of the fashionable metropolis, a lot of whose grandparents and great-grandparents lived within the ruins of the traditional capital earlier than the brand new metropolis was created, take robust pleasure in Palmyra and its highly effective Queen Zenobia, who dominated within the third century.

“As a girl, she used the army and expanded her empire from Antioch to Egypt,” says Botman, mentioning pharaonic columns gifted to her from historic Egyptian rulers.

On one of many colonnaded streets, younger volunteers from Palmyra roll stone blocks into place to forestall vehicles from driving into the ruins and doing additional harm. In the course of the civil struggle, looting of archaeological websites in Syria dramatically elevated.

“We have now to guard even the small items,” says Mohammad Shaker, 24, from the Palmyra Youth Gathering, which has labored to clear particles from the citadel on a hill overlooking the traditional website in addition to restore sidewalks.

The volunteers are additionally making an attempt to assist convey again fashionable Palmyra after the nation’s devastating civil struggle. A minimum of 100,000 civilians have been believed killed by the regime and through preventing within the 13-year-long battle.

“We have now the power — all the things could be restored and in a couple of years it will likely be rebuilt,” he says. “However the younger individuals and the youngsters who died, that’s the most devastating destruction. That we can’t change.”

“Palmyra, the traditional metropolis, is like our mom,” stated Mohammed Fares, who works for a Spanish-based conservation group, Heritage for Peace. “Each stone has a reminiscence for me.”

He stated the group is ready for the Syrian authorities to license non-governmental organizations to ship in professional archaeologists and tools to evaluate the harm to the traditional website.

PALMYRA, Syria, 02/21/25 Ruins of stone columns destroyed by ISIS in 2015 after its takeover of the region. Syrians are hoping for a return of tourists now that the country has reopened to international visitors after the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to rebel fighters last December. Ayman Oghanna for NPR

Syrians are hoping for a return of vacationers now that the nation has reopened to worldwide guests after the autumn of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to insurgent fighters final December.

Ayman Oghanna for NPR


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Ayman Oghanna for NPR

Syrian regime, Russian and Iran-backed army motion

The harm to each the traditional website and the fashionable metropolis has been devastating.

Confronted with civil struggle and threats from ISIS, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to Russian forces and Iran-backed Syrian militias to retake Palmyra.

A 2017 report by the American Society of Abroad Analysis stated current army exercise accounted for extra harm than deliberate destruction within the historic metropolis of Palmyra and different websites it surveyed.

The Syrian authorities moved army forces into the traditional citadel overlooking Palmyra. And in 2016, Russia established a army base on the sting of the traditional metropolis, throughout the safety zone established by UNESCO.

Russia stated a yr later the bottom was non permanent. However indicators of Russian presence stay years later. Months after the regime and its Russian allies retreated final December, the bottom close to a ladies’ highschool taken over by the Russian army is roofed with burned and blackened paperwork, waterlogged books in Cyrillic script, items of pc tools and an artillery shell — all apparently left by troops as they deserted the positioning.

Russia supplied to assist restore harm completed by ISIS. However it stated that some websites have been so badly broken they could possibly be rebuilt utilizing solely fashionable supplies. A part of the traditional theater seems to have been repaired with concrete.

Lower than half a mile away, the brand new metropolis of Palmyra, established within the Nineteen Thirties, has suffered much more devastation. Lots of the homes in what was a metropolis of 100,000 individuals are both destroyed or closely broken. As in a lot of the remainder of Syria, there are only some hours of electrical energy, no emergency providers and no cash to rebuild infrastructure.

“Ninety-nine p.c of households have been displaced north, to Homs or Damascus,” says Fares.

Lots of the palm groves that gave the oasis metropolis its title have been razed by the Assad regime and its allies to eradicate cowl for opposition fighters.

PALMYRA, Syria, 02/21/25 The ruins of the century-old Zenobia hotel overlooking the ancient city. Writer Agatha Christie and her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan were among the hotel’s guests in the 1920s. Ayman Oghanna for NPR

The ruins of the century-old Zenobia lodge overlooking the traditional metropolis. Author Agatha Christie and her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan have been among the many lodge’s visitors within the Twenties.

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Prospects for rebuilding

The autumn of the Assad regime opens the potential of extra stability and funds — and wider tourism to what had been largely a distinct segment vacation spot earlier than the beginning of the civil struggle, with only a few thousand guests a yr.

On the century-old Zenobia Cham Palace Resort overlooking the traditional metropolis, the partitions are marked with bullet holes. Fallen plaster and shattered glass cowl the flooring. A water-logged drinks menu, a remnant of the pre-ISIS days, advertises alcoholic cocktails. Author Agatha Christie and her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan have been amongst the lodge’s visitors within the Twenties.

PALMYRA, Syria, 02/21/25 Inside the century-old Zenobia hotel overlooking the ancient city. The damaged hotel has fallen into disrepair, but has a storied history. Writer Agatha Christie and her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan were among the hotel’s guests in the 1920s. Ayman Oghanna for NPR

Contained in the century-old Zenobia lodge overlooking the traditional metropolis. The broken lodge has fallen into disrepair, however has a storied historical past.

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Ayman Oghanna for NPR

The close by Palmyra Museum stays closed. The guard there, who declines to present his title as he isn’t approved to talk to journalists, says he’s below authorities directions to not permit guests as a result of ISIS continues to be a risk. However he returns with a present of postcards exhibiting a number of the museum’s treasures, together with a well-known statue of a lion broken by ISIS.

Lots of the antiquities within the Palmyra museum have been despatched to Damascus for safekeeping after the beginning of the civil struggle.

PALMYRA, Syria, 02/21/25 Many sites of ancient Palmyra were destroyed by ISIS in 2015 after its takeover of the region. But locals are hoping for a return of tourists now that the country has reopened to international visitors after the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to rebel fighters last December. Ayman Oghanna for NPR

Palmyra, as soon as one of the crucial essential cities within the historic world, seen right here on Feb. 21.

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Syria’s new authorities blames Russia

In Damascus, the Syrian authorities’s interim head of antiquities, Anas Haj Zidane, says he blames Russia for harm to Palmyra and the U.N.’s cultural company, UNESCO, for permitting Russian oversight over the archaeological website.

“When the Russians have been current in Palmyra as a army presence, they vandalized and destroyed it,” he advised NPR in January. “Their mission was a army delegation composed of officers, not specialists in antiquities.”

Krista Pikkat, UNESCO’s Tradition and Emergencies Entity director, stated the group had no info on the declare of Russian involvement in harm to Palmyra. Russian authorities haven’t responded to NPR’s request for remark.

Pikkat stated the group was discussing with Syrian authorities reactivating monitoring missions to examine endangered World Heritage Websites within the nation.

On the Nationwide Museum of Damascus, glass instances maintain tantalizing glimpses of the wealth of historic Palmyra. They embody delicate Roman glass containers for eyeliner and brightly coloured fragments of silk and cotton clothes, nearly 2,000 years previous.

The 11-foot-high stone Lion of al-Lat, broken outdoors the Palmyra museum by ISIS, was pieced collectively and is now on show within the Damascus museum’s backyard, amid orange timber stuffed with songbirds. A handful of Syrian guests wander by the museum halls because the sound system quietly and inexplicably performs Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen within the background.

The11-foot-high stone Lion of al-Lat, damaged outside the Palmyra museum by ISIS, was pieced together and is now on display in the Damascus museum’s garden, amid orange trees filled with songbirds on Feb. 20, 2025.

The 11-foot-high stone Lion of al-Lat, pieced again collectively after ISIS broken it in Palmyra, is now on show within the Damascus museum’s backyard amid orange timber stuffed with songbirds, Feb. 20.

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Ayman Oghanna for NPR

The nation’s long-time director of museums and antiquities, Mohammad Nazir Awad, appears delighted to information guests by the displays. The museum was closed for seven years on the top of the civil struggle.

“We want worldwide cooperation as a result of Syria can’t now with its humble inside capabilities after this brutal struggle and many years of corruption, present all the things that’s required within the cultural sector,” he says. “I hope that Syria returns to the glory it had within the area of antiquities and extra.”

Greg Dixon and Sangar Khaleel contributed reporting from Palmyra and Damascus.

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