Palmyra Lion Statue Destroyed by ISIL Was Completely Unique

In an exclusive interview to Sputnik, Syria's antiquities director Maamoun Abdelkarim said that the destroyed Lion of al-Lat statue was unique and had no copies.

ISIL militants earlier destroyed the ancient Lion of al-Lat statue in the Syrian city of Palmyra. The fighters also looted antiquities from nearby tombs and reportedly sold them at a public auction.

"The destruction of the Lion of al-Lat statue is the biggest loss for Syria's antiquities. It weighed 15 tons and was 3.5 meters high. It was a unique artifact, the most ancient of all. Before Palmyra was captured by ISIL fighters, the statue was the first to be surrounded by metal cases, sandbags and rocks to protect it from a possible mortar attack. But we did not expect that when capturing the city, they would immediately go for the Lion of al-Lat," Abdelkarim told Sputnik.

"Yesterday, ISIL social media accounts published photographs of 80 ancient male and female busts which were looted from Palmyra's tombs. These busts were put out to sell at a public action in the city of Manbij in northern Syria, where collectors buy them for huge sums of money. Bust and artifacts that they could not sell were barbarically destroyed, as seen in the photographs," Abdelkarim added.

ISIL militants also use explosives to destroy larger statues, as was the case in Iraq, Abdelkarim added. The looted artifacts were later sold at auction in the ISIL-controlled city of Manbij in northern Syria.