New Syria, uncertainties about heritage

The information took everyone by surprise. Bashar Al-Assad’s regime collapsed like a house of cards in a few hours. The rebels’ dazzling offensive began on December 3 with the capture of Aleppo by the HTS group (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, “Levant Liberation Organization”). Led by Abu Mohammed Al-Joulani, this movement comes from the ranks of Al-Qaeda, an organization with which it broke in 2016, and has had its base in the city of Idlib in the northeast of the country since 2017. Hama, Homs and Damascus were conquered between December 3 and 8 in western Syria, as well as Deir ez-Zor on the Euphrates and Kamechliyé in the northeast, in the Kurdish zone.

Kurdish groups of the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces, supported by the United States) and various rebel movements accompanied the HTS offensive, including mercenaries in the pay of Turkey (Syrian National Army) and members of Sunni tribes. The Islamic State (IS) organization in Syria, withdrawn since 2018 in the South-East and very weakened, as well as the Iranian and Iraqi Shiite militias quickly abandoned the fight, like the army of the Assad regime, now dissolved.

If at this time the fighting is sporadic, the protection of heritage and museums could quickly become a problem. In Syria, heritage is managed by the General Directorate of Antiquities, which in the past had not been able to protect the sites of fighting between the regime army, the rebels and ISIS. In Aleppo, between 2012 and 2016, the Old City and monuments were heavily damaged by fierce fighting, mines, dynamiting and bombings. The great Umayyad mosque (8th century), the medieval souk, caravanserais from the 16th century and the surroundings of the citadel (12th century) were destroyed. Several of these sites have been listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since the 1980s and 1990s, but the regime has not taken the necessary protection measures. After the reconquest, only the citadel and a few islands of historic buildings were restored. The earthquake of February 2023 further slowed down reconstruction work.

Another emblematic site listed as World Heritage, Palmyra and its Hellenistic temples: during the occupation of the city by ISIS in 2015, several temples were destroyed with bulldozers and dynamite, and the ruins served as a place of execution to the jihadist group. The director of the site was assassinated there in August 2015, and part of the museum was looted. The regime retook the city in 2016 and began partial reconstruction, with help from Russia. The documentary “Palmyra at the crossroads of the worlds”, broadcast on France 5 in October 2024, very favorable to the Syrian regime, shows that excavations have resumed around the site, and that a French heritage company participated in the digitization in 3D of ancient buildings, under the leadership of UNESCO.

As with other economic sectors, Al-Joulani and his allies will have to make decisions regarding heritage: in his first official statement in Aleppo, he called on the rebels and the population to respect “the heritage of all communities” because they are “the traces of a common ancient history”. A subsequent statement banned looting, a sign that Al-Joulani understood the importance of protecting Syrian heritage.