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IS Looting Ancient Sites On 'Industrial Scale'

Islamic State jihadists have been looting ancient sites in Syria and Iraq on an industrial scale, according to UNESCO.

And some sites in Syria no longer hold any value for archaeologists and historians because they have been so badly ransacked by "cultural cleansing", the UN agency added.

Of the estimated 10,000 world-renowned sites in Iraq, about a fifth were controlled by IS and heavily looted and it was not known what was happening to thousands more, claimed UNESCO's boss.

The two countries contain some of the most historically significant monuments and artefacts - and a number of archaeological treasures were being sold to middlemen to raise cash, said Irina Bokova.

She said IS was charging local farmers to excavate sites and smuggle out artefacts which eventually made their way to private collectors around the world.

But art dealer James Ede said legitimate dealers would never touch antiquities sold by IS.

He told Sky News: "What's happening in Syria is a complete catastrophe. The destruction of our common archaeological heritage is disastrous and there are sites where we will no longer we able to visit which is a cause of extreme sadness.

"But there is a slight feeling that in some way the trade is colluding in the funding of IS by selling stolen antiquities and this is absolutely not the case."

IS's self-declared caliphate across parts of Iraq and Syria is in a region where ancient Assyrian empires built their capitals, Graeco-Roman civilisation flourished, and Muslim and Christian sects co-existed for centuries.

The jihadists have a strict Salafi interpretation of Islam and they see tombs and non-Islamic vestiges as blasphemous and legitimate targets.

The militants' recent takeover of an area including the ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria sparked worldwide concern.

In April, IS released a video where militants used rifles and sledgehammers to destroy artefacts at the ancient fortress city of Hatra.

And earlier in the year the jihadists also damaged the site of Iraq's ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and destroyed dozens of pieces from the museum in Mosul.

There are now plans to develop a cultural protection fund aimed at safeguarding sites in areas of conflict.

Ms Bokova said: "The deliberate destruction, what we are seeing nowadays in Iraq and Syria, has reached unprecedented levels in contemporary history.

"This deliberate destruction is not only continuing, it is happening on a systematic basis.

"The looting of archaeological sites and museums, in Iraq particularly, has reached an industrial scale of destruction."

She told Sky News: "Under the IS occupation, we have seen bulldozing of Nimrud, and the destruction in Hatra. We need to have more precise information in order to know where there are illicit archaeological excavations."

Satellite images helped UNESCO understand what was going on, she added.

But in some areas there were just hundreds of holes in the ground from which artefacts were being extracted and it was difficult to understand what was being looted.