The decapitated body of an archaeologist killed by ISIS has been found

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Khaled Al-Assad

The Syrian government has claimed that the decapitated body of an archaeologist killed by ISIS in 2015 has been found.

According to the International News Agency, the Syrian government has claimed to have found the body of 82-year-old world-renowned archaeologist Khaled al-Assad.

Archaeologist Khalid al-Assad was trying to protect the historic city of Palmyra when ISIS wanted to find out the location of ancient and valuable artifacts from him and killed him on refusal.
A report released by the state-run media on Friday states that the body of the archaeologist was one of three discovered at Klaul, east of Palmyra.

DNA tests will be conducted to identify the three bodies found at the site, but officials claim that one of them is identified as Khalid al-Assad.

Archaeologist Khalid al-Assad has dedicated more than 50 years of his life to the historic city of Palmyra in an oasis in the desert northeast of Damascus. He retired in 2003 but remained in the area until the ISIS attack.

Al-Assad’s three sons and son-in-law are also archaeologists who fled the capital with hundreds of valuable artifacts from a museum in the nearby modern city of Tadmour shortly before the ISIS attack.

Despite the family’s insistence, al-Assad refused to leave the area, saying he was from Palmyra and would stay until the militants killed him.