Witness History9 Touko 2025

Rescuing Palmyra’s treasures from the Islamic State group

In May 2015, when the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria was about to fall to jihadist fighters, a group of men risked their lives to load centuries-old artefacts from the city’s museum onto trucks and drive them to safety.

Before their advance to Palmyra, members of the group that called itself Islamic State had already been filmed for social media smashing statues that dated back to religious life in the Middle East before the Prophet Muhammad.

Khalil Hariri, an archaeology expert who worked at Palmyra’s museum, tells Josephine McDermott about his passion for its history and the personal price he has paid for the daring rescue.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: The damaged site of Palmyra in 2016. The graffiti reads ‘We remain’. Credit: Reuters)

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