PARIS, Nov. 17 (UPI) — French President Francois Hollande proposed a plan to offer “asylum” to Syrian artifacts and historical antiquities Tuesday.
In an address to the 38th meeting of the UNESCO conference in Paris, Hollande said he would welcome a coalition of French archaeologists and local authorities to remove antiquities from Syria for safekeeping in France. His plan, the said, would protect artifacts from “fanatics who are attacking the living and the dead, all who have humanity today and tomorrow, and those of yesterday.”
He referred to UNESCO as “the moral conscience of humanity.”
The archeological treasures of Syria have been under assault, and for sale, by the Islamic State, which has systematically destroyed objects it regards as anti-Islamic. Pre-Muslim relics have been decried as idolatrous and destroyed, as have parts of regions on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list.
Officials of the Syrian government say over 300,000 artifacts have been moved to safe places within the country, including from areas controlled by IS.
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