From March 24–28, 2016, a coalition of SARG, Russian, and Iranian forces captured the Syrian city of Tadmor, and subsequently, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Palmyra from ISIL militants, who had held the area since May 2015. ISIL forces had planted explosives throughout the modern city as well as the archaeological site, which SARG and Russian forces are now systematically clearing. Though this has slowed the SARG advance, soldiers, journalists, and heritage experts have gained access to the Palmyra Archaeological Museum (PAM) and portions of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, providing the first detailed ground-level images in months. Preliminary evidence supports previous claims that ISIL conducted acts of deliberate destruction targeting ancient monuments and more modern cultural assets. Palmyra and modern Tadmor have sustained significant and widespread combat damage. The situation is still fluid, but initial assessments of the available photographs and videos confirm substantial damage to the Arch of Triumph, ostensibly by ISIL militants. Various sources have reported significant damage to the museum and its remaining collections caused by airstrikes and ISIL acts of iconoclasm similar to the ISIL-publicized performative deliberate destructions in the Mosul Museum in Iraq. As previously reported, the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums evacuated the larger part of the PAM’s collections just prior to ISIL’s capture of Tadmor, but larger objects and those securely mounted to the museum structure could not be evacuated in the time available. In some instances, we cannot yet distinguish the cause(s) of damage to sculptures and other objects. Furthermore, both SARG and Russian airstrikes were reported with unprecedented frequency in the area, reportedly causing the damage to the Uthman bin Affan Mosque and Bilal ibn Rabia Mosque. The situation is still unfolding, and it would be premature to estimate the extent of the damage to Tadmor and ancient Palmyra given that much of the area remains inaccessible due to explosives. Moreover, time is needed to assess the significant damage linked to the ISIL 10-month occupation and the subsequent SARG campaign to retake Palmyra since September 2015 and to discern the effects of these recent damage incidents from the significant incidents documented prior to ISIL occupation when Tadmor and ancient Palmyra were militarized by SARG and consequently damaged and looted.

Combat damage continued to be the most devastating source of damage in both Syria and Iraq. Russian airstrikes hit two sites in Raqqa — an “archaeological market” near Hattin Cemetery and an area near al-Imam al-Nawawi Mosque— and Opposition forces damaged the al-Sayyida Aisha Mosque in Aleppo. Coalition forces in Iraq reportedly damaged the Al Aisha Mosque in Mosul.