ISIS has severely damaged yet another wonder of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, this time the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel.
That's according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group monitoring the conflict, citing contacts on the ground.
It was feared Bel would be next on the militant's hitlist at the Unesco World Heritage Site in central Syria after the temple of Baal Shamin was dynamited last week.
Dedicated to the Phoenician god of storms and fertilizing rains, the UN called the destruction of Baal Shamin a war crime.
A Palmyra resident, who goes by the name of Nasser al-Thaer, said IS militants set off a huge blast at 1.45 pm on Sunday.
'It is total destruction,' he said of the scene of the explosion. 'The bricks and columns are on the ground.' [Daily Mail] Read more
