ISIS Beheads 82-year Old Archaeologist in Palmyra

The Islamic State (ISIS), which typically destroys ancient artifacts of any civilization it sees as inconsistent with its fundamentalist Islamic beliefs when conquering new territory, has beheaded the 82-year old archaeologist who headed Palmyra (Syria) antiquities for the past 50 years and hung his body in the main square of the historic site on Tuesday. The Reuters news agency reported that uncharacteristically, ISIS has not destroyed the Roman-era site itself and the ancient columns which are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Archaeologist Khalid Asaad was interrogated by ISIS fighters for more than a month before his execution according to the head of Syrian state antiquities. He was an internationally-known scholar whose work was published in international journals.