Islamic State's killing of revered Syrian archeologist raises fears for fate of artifacts

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The Roman columns that rise out of the desert in Palmyra were worth a lifetime of study to Khaled al-Asaad, who was born in the Syrian city and spent his career preserving it. For different reasons, the ruins have also exercised a strong pull on the Islamic State: The terrorist group abhors its artifacts as symbols of Western imperialism and idolatry.

These competing visions for the ancient settlement culminated in Mr. al-Asaad's death on Tuesday, as Islamic State militants beheaded the retired octogenarian scholar after three weeks in captivity and hung his body from a pole.

When the Islamic State overran the town in May, many feared the militants would set about destroying the UNESCO World Heritage Site as they have other monuments from antiquity. Now, with a flair for murderous stagecraft the group has shown many times before, it has killed a man so important to the place he was known as "Mr. Palmyra."

The brutal execution comes as the Islamic State seeks to impose its own violent interpretation of Islamic law on the swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq that it now controls. Its regime in these countries has included a campaign to eradicate so-called paganism, as well as widespread destruction and theft of archeological treasures.

Mr. al-Asaad's killing shocked fellow archeologists and drew condemnation from the international community.

"We have lost not just a scholar of archeology but one of the pillars of archeology in the 20th century," said Ahmad Ferzat Taraqji, 56, an antiquities expert and friend of Mr. al-Asaad.

Tim Harrison, a professor of Middle Eastern archeology at the University of Toronto, noted that IS has targeted archeologists before.

"This is not the first time, it's just the most dramatic occurrence," he said.

"It's very shocking and deeply upsetting for the community what has happened," Prof. Harrison added.

Before extremists took the city, authorities hid some of Palmyra's most valuable artifacts, but fears remain that the Islamic State will pillage the ruins as they have others in the region. Some have speculated that militants have kept Palmyra largely intact as protection, betting that the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State is unlikely to bomb such an important historic site.

There is also evidence, reported by British media, that the Islamic State has been financing its operations by looting the ancient sites it conquers and selling their bounty on the global antiquities market.

On Tuesday, Mr. al-Asaad was brought in a van to a main square near a vegetable market packed with shoppers, according to his nephew, who uses the name Khaled al-Homsi. Dressed in ordinary clothes and not the orange jumpsuits worn by other hostages that the Islamic State has beheaded, Mr. al-Asaad stood as a militant read out five accusations against him, said Mr. al-Homsi, speaking on condition his real name not be used for fear of reprisals.

The charges included accusations that he was the "director of idols," represented Syria "at infidel conferences" and visited Shia powerhouse Iran.

When another militant pulled out a knife, Mr. al-Homsi said he left the square, unable to watch. Mr. al-Asaad's body was later hung from a pole on a main street, a paper outlining the "charges" against him hung around his waist.

Before the execution, the Islamic State tried to extract information from him about where some of the town's treasures had been hidden, according to Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus.

Mr. al-Asaad had unparalleled knowledge of Palmyra, born of decades spent leading archeological work there. He was born in the city in 1932, according to Syrian state media, and only left briefly to study in Damascus, before being appointed director of antiquities for Palmyra as well as director of its museum in 1963. Mr. al-Asaad held those positions for 40 years.

"Anyone who wanted to do anything in Palmyra had to work though Khaled al-Asaad," said Amr Al-Azm, a Syrian professor of Middle Eastern history and anthropology at Shawnee State University in Ohio, in an interview with the New York Times.

Along with writing numerous books and articles on the city, Mr. al-Asaad named his daughter Zenobia after the queen who ruled third-century Palmyra.

Though he retired more than a decade ago, he continued to live near the archeological site and "could see [it] from his house," said Mr. al-Homsi.

Speaking in Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said: "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms this murder … of a man who dedicated his life to preserving Syria's cultural treasures."

Mr. Taraqji, the colleague of Mr. al-Assad, said he begged his friend two months ago to leave Palmyra with his family and go to Damascus. "But he refused," said Mr. Taraqji, who is director of excavations at the antiquities department in Damascus.

"He believed in destiny," Mr. Taraqji said of Mr. al-Assad. "He told me, 'I was born in Palmyra and will stay in Palmyra and will not leave even if costs me my blood.'"

With a report from Associated Press