Activists to Save Syria's Cultural History_美文

Activists to Save Syria's Cultural History

Sending a message

"These are carefully crafted atrocities," Al-Azm said, "and they send a very specific message that ISIS is here and it can act with impunity, and the fact that the international community is impotent to stop them."

"The looting that's been taking place all over Syria is happening in areas where the various opposition groups are in control," he said.

Professor McGuire Gibson, who specializes in Mesopotamian archaeology at the University of Chicago's Oriental institute.

He said part of preserving Syria's past is getting the international community to crack down on the trade of looted artifacts.

"Any site that archaeologists have worked on has been subjected to looting, because [thieves] know that there is something there that people will want," he said.

Some pillaged items might never make their way back to Syria. Compound with what's already been destroyed, Professor Al-Azm acknowledges the Syria of the future may look very different.

"I hope that one day my children will be able to go back to Syria, and they're not going to have the opportunity to see what I was able to see and grow up with," he said.

Which is why, despite the challenges of distance and access, Al-Azm and his network race to save what is left of Syria's priceless and irreplaceable treasures.