Three 2,000-year-old Palmyra tomb towers destroyed by ISIS

Satellite images confirm their destruction

The best preserved and most beautiful tomb towers in Palmyra have been turned to rubble after the Islamic State bombarded the ancient sites. Satellite images of the World Heritage Sites confirm the complete destruction of these sites.

MUNTINLUPA CITY, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Three ancient towers in Palmyra were blasted to bits. Earth and rubble are now present where the 2,000-year-old structures once stood. 

Syrian antiques chief Maamoun Abdulkarim reported the tombs were the "best preserved and most beautiful" in the city. One of the tombs, the Elahbel, was built back in 103 AD, was four stories high and had an underground floor.
ISIS took control of the city of Palmyra last May. Since then, they have blown up several sites in Iraq and murdered its retired 82-year-old archaeologist Khaled Asaad, who worked for more than 50 years as the head of antiquities in the area.
The Jihadists group destroyed the Temple of Baalshamin and later destroyed the larger Temple of Bel. 

ISIS is believed to be using the looted antiquities to fund their organization.
Reports claim antiques from the temples are already being sold on the black market in London and several areas in Europe.
UNESCO has listed the whole of Palmyra -including four cemeteries located outside its walls- as world heritage since the 1980's. 
In the listing, the tower tombs were considered the "oldest and most distinctive" of Palmyra's funeral monuments. The towers were "tall multi-storey sandstone buildings belonging to the richest families" back in ancient Palmyra times.
UNESCO describes the tower tomb "On the fronts of those that survive, foremost among them the Tower of Elahbel, there is an arch with sarcophagus halfway up, which in ancient times supported a reclining statue ... Corridors and rooms were subdivided by vertical bays of Ioculi closed by slabs of stone carved with the image of the deceased and painted in lively colours."
Unfortunately, these tomb towers exist no more, except their remaining bits of rubble and dirt.
The Tower of Jambalik, built in the 83 AD, was destroyed along with the Tower of Ketoutu, which was built in 44 AD. These towers rose to fame because of the intricate scenes etched into their walls.

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