From their strongholds in Syria and Iraq, the so-called Islamic State, or IS, is currently enjoying a wealth of income from various resources. Take oil, for instance, which militants have resold to regional foes like the Iraqi Kurds and Syrian government for millions. But there’s a lesser known, and perhaps more devastating way the group is making more cash.
Amid nearly four years of conflict, Syria’s wealth of world heritage and archaeological sites is not the first thing that comes to mind. But important pieces of history are being chipped away as IS militants turn precious world artifacts into a profit for the caliphate.
While the U.S.-led airstrike campaign targets their strongholds in Syria and Iraq, IS militants are capturing Syria’s most precious artifacts and smuggling them out of the country for resale.
Once out of Syria, militants are attempting to sell their spoils to prospective museums, though many have refused the smuggled goods and others have begun repatriating long-lost pieces to their home countries.
Aside from causing artifacts to get lost, IS is also deliberately destroying pre-Islamic works of art. In Iraq, militants torched an 1,800 year old church in Mosul in July after driving out the region’s Christian inhabitants. In Syria, looter pits large enough to spot on satellite imaging are left behind. While archeologists pick delicately through archaeological digs, looters grab what they can find and run, thus ruining the historical integrity of the site.
Privy to its unsavory arrival, many museums have tried to repatriate the works. Ironically, however, smuggling art out of a country can sometimes ensure its survival.
Such is the case in war-torn Syria.
But because countries disagree on whether smuggled goods can be resold, what happens next depends largely on where an artifact ends up.
Currently, US law does not prohibit selling smuggled goods unless there is an existing agreement with the country of origin. The United Kingdom recently passed an emergency measure to prohibit the import of any antiquities that look like they might be from Syria.
But it’s difficult to prove definitively that any particular artifact or work of art came from Syria, and dealers would likely jump at a chance to purchase rare items.
Iraq, like Syria, has experienced years of looting because of war. In 2008, the US banned ancient imports from Iraq, but it was too little, too late: ancient imports of looted goods had taken place since 1990.
The ongoing conflict in Syria do not seem to have a quick resolution. And in Iraq, looting of archaeological sites has continued years after the 2003 U.S. invasion ended. For now, it appears that Syria and the world will lose large amounts of precious history.
