Mahendra Sukhdeo – 
One of the cruel casualties of the Middle East crisis is this year’s capture of Palmyra by the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and beheading of 82-year-old Principal Archaeologist Khaled Al Assad.
His body was hung down in the square near the site.
As the West impotently looked on, last month, in the backdrop of the destruction of Temple of Baalshamin, they destroyed the most spectacular 2000-year Temple of Bell, looted the Valley of Tombs and bombed outstanding landmarks such as the Main Colonnade, the Arch, the Roman Theatre and the Citadel.
UNESCO had singled out the tower tombs as ‘the oldest and most distinctive’ of Palmyra’s funerary monuments.
Ironically, the militants have not bombed the grand amphitheatre that is being paraded as their badge of Islamist justice!
The fall of Palmyra accentuated the ISIL control of Syria by more than 50%. The plunder of Palmyra is an unforgivable crime on human evolutionary history.
So, why has the Islamic State persevered in destroying the relics rather than preserving the booty as a price-tag?
Tourist Hub
Palmyra, a world heritage tourist hub, lies on the old caravan route cutting across the dessert between the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
The ancient Semitic city was part of the Mesopotamian Civilisation (covering modern Iraq, Kuwait, southeast Turkey and northeast Syria).
Just as it happened with the north-western Indian subcontinent, its 3000 year polytheistic dominance ended when the Archaemid Emperor.
Cyrus conquered it in 539 BCE and two centuries later, in 330 BCE, Macedonian Greek Emperor Alexander the Great overthrew the Persians.
The oasis city, with its 1000 columns, had survived the rigours of history over the last two millennia.
Palmyra was part of the ancient civilisations in the same character as that of the Indus Valley and the Nile Valley civilisations.
In ‘Aryan Avatars,’ I drew several parallels and interactions between ancient Persia and Indus heritage that together brought richness to the people of the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.
What gnaws the Islamist State is its sanctimony as a prehistoric site; a sacrilegious idolatrous bedrock in competition with the monopoly of Islamic faith.
The Plunder
The purging of Palmyra is part of the long trail of deliberate action to wipe out those ancient monuments that pose a threat to Islamist existence in its fanatical form.
In Afghanistan, in 2001, their Taliban counterpart bombed the replica of Bamiyan Buddhas from the mountain face and in Iraq some of the ancient relics of Babylon have either been stolen or plundered.
Apart from oil revenues and extortion, the sale of rare artefacts is not only becoming lucrative barter trade, but also gaining momentum in the fertile underworld black market.
However, ISIL’s principal target is to show itself as the bastion of Muslim militancy and anointing its Muslim populace with the aura of monotheistic ritual invincibility.
Holy Grail
ISIL, ISIS or ‘Dawlah Al Islamiyah’ (Daesh) is led by mostly militant Iraqi and Syrian Sunnis and now control more than 10 million people across Iraq and Syria and has links with Libya, Nigeria and South Asia.
Why has ISIL gained such notoriety in the West?
For the first time since the Middle Ages when the Christians and Muslims fought the ascendancy battle of attrition, a sporadic, remnant group has now claimed to be the Caliphate and Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, a Jordanian, is named its caliph.
The political ramifications of the June 29, 2014 Proclamation is an anathema for the West as the Caliphate claims religious, political and military authority over all Muslims worldwide.
Much more tormenting for the West is its declaration that “the legality of all emirates, groups, states and organisations becomes null by the expansion of the Khalifas (Caliphates) authority and arrival of troops to their areas.”
It is in fact the potentially portent “Restoration of Caliphate” in the Middle East.
The well thought-out Declaration is now a magnet for all Muslims all over the world to look nostalgically with awe at the Caliphate and unite under its banner.
The Sydney Siege led by an isolated upstart and the Paris bombings displayed the hallmarks of the restored Caliphate and it has sent shock waves across the Muslim world that those who are seeing to be coalescing with the West and those who are perpetuating religious schism would be regarded as the enemies of the united Muslim governance. The Caliphate and the Crusade are being replicated.
Muslim dilemma
The Muslim world is divided into two opposing groups of Sunnis and Shiites.
The Sunnis believe in an elected Caliph whereas the Shiites opt for an Imam chosen by the ‘Family of the House,’ the direct descendants of Prophet Mohammed.
Theological differences have sprouted over the dynastic succession issues.
The world Muslim population of 1.57 billion are less than quarter of the world population and yet their impact on world ‘hotspots’ far outweigh their numbers.
The sectarian divide and alignment with Western powers further accentuate the confusion. The Sunnis are in absolute majority (87-90%) of the Muslim world population whereas the Shiites comprise only 10-13% (Pew Research Centre on Religion and Public Life).
The Ayatollah Khomeini-led Iranian Revolution provided the aggressive fillip to the Shiites, the dormant minority.
Sunni Super
Saddam Hussein, now revered as the Middle East martyr, was a Sunni Super imposed on a Shia majority Iraq (65-70%).
Since the 2003 reckless, illegal invasion by the US led ‘Coalition of the Willing’ (against the vast majority of the confederate of the unwilling), Iraq has been turned into an unmanageable porous state as its governance is now dominated by the Shiites.
The 2003 invasion in fact augmented the regional influence of the ‘Twelver Group’ led by Iran. Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen are now on the bandwagon of Iran.
The political congruence of strange bedfellows (the West and Iran) markedly contributed to the birth of ISIL in Iraq and Syria. The Western reliance on pliable ‘strongmen’ in the Middle East and Northern Africa irrespective of sectarian and democratic nexus hedged the populace that gave rise to the technologically savvy Spring Revolution.
Contradictions galore
Syria is a typical example of the paradox of contradictions.
An absolute Sunni majority (75%) country with Shiites forming only 15-20% of the populace, the heterodox Alawi Shia sect commands the civil and military networks and forms the core protective umbrella for Bashir Al Assad and his regime.
The Twelver Group led by Iran provide the regional support and the Russians/Chinese the international support. ISIL is part of the insurrection.
Air raids against ISIL are tantamount to strengthening the hands of Bashir Al Assad, the minority corrupt leader whom the Americans and its illegal coalition want to dislodge. Similar narrative applies to Yemen.
Unsanctioned intrusion
Just as in 2003 in Iraq, 2015 is a repeat of Western forces marching militarily without the sanction of the United Nations against the ISIL in Syria that is likely to implode substantial collateral loss of lives and resources.
That in turn will create a huge reservoir of refugees for the West to accommodate in spite of its opposition to it.
The West knee jerk reaction to the Syrian crisis without a foot soldier on the ground is a cowardly act of avoiding spectre of body bags coming home and reliance on drones to subdue the enemy.
The elusive enemy will not lose, but the ruthless action appeals to the xenophobic Caucasian dominance; a singular short-term consideration to win the ballot boxes.
Mahendra Sukhdeo is the author of ‘Aryan Avatars.’ He lives in Melbourne, Australia. Additional Reading: ‘Terror supersedes benevolence in Middle East’ and ‘Extremists destroy Syrian treasures’ in this Section.
Photo :
- Temple of Baalshamin goes up in smoke
- Plunderers take Palmyra
