The U.N. training and research agency released satellite images and analysis that confirmed the Temple of Bel -- which for nearly 2,000 years has been the center of religious life in Palmyra, Syria -- was no longer standing, despite conflicting reports earlier in the day that it was not fully demolished.
UNOSAT Manager Einar Bjorgo said he could "confirm destruction of the main building of the Temple of Bel as well as a row of columns in its immediate vicinity."
Syria's antiquities chief, Maamoun Abdulkarim, said earlier on Monday that the temple's iconic columns were still standing, despite an explosion there Sunday.
A satellite image confirms the destruction of the main building of the Temple of Bel, as well as a row of columns in its immediate vicinity.
He said there was an explosion Sunday inside the walls of the Temple of Bel, and while the extent of the damage was not yet known at the time, witnesses reported the walls were still standing. He called the site "the most important temple in Syria and one of the most important in the whole Middle East."
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports had reported previously that the temple had been at least in part damaged by ISIS.
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