During the reporting period, the primary heritage concern in the conflict zone of Syria and northern Iraq continued to be the elevated risk of deliberate heritage destruction by ISIL at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Palmyra. Since ISIL’s capture of Tadmor on May 20, 2015, cultural assets in this region have been under high risk of intentional destruction and looting as well as continued combat damage. ISIL leadership in Tadmor has claimed that the organization will engage in such destructions, as well as loot archaeological sites in the area, actions reminiscent of recent war crimes at the Mosul Museum, Hatra, Nineveh, and Nimrud in Iraq. Reports on combat damage also continued to be posted by in‐country sources in Syria. Patterns evinced in previous months continued with Aleppo, Bosra, and Jisr al‐Shughour sustaining moderate to severe damage. 

In Iraq, in‐country and media sources provided information on several severe damage incidents, including ISIL intentional destruction at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Assur (Qal’at Sherqat), the religious capital of Assyria and one of its political capitals, as well as destructions of religious heritage in Mosul and Fallujah. ISIL strategy in Syria and Iraq continues to center on conducting attacks on multiple fronts to disperse opposing forces. ISIL offensives also targeted the few remaining border crossings controlled by SARG and the Syrian Opposition. As ISIL tightens its grip on Syria, we predict increased emphasis on systematic and organized looting and antiquities trafficking, as evidenced by the opening of antiquities offices in some ISIL controlled areas in northern Syria and the issuing of permits to loot archaeological sites. 

The international cultural heritage community continues to coordinate joint actions against ISIL and other extremist groups in terms of cultural property protection, specifically implementing measures to curb antiquities trafficking, to reduce market space for illicit antiquities sales, and to raise public awareness of the importance of cultural property protection for conflict resolution, sustaining peace initiatives, humanitarian efforts, counter‐terrorism measures, and global security. The U.S. Department of State and UNESCO held a Stakeholders Roundtable entitled Despoiled and Destroyed: Ancient Civilizations of Iraq and Syria in Paris at UNESCO Headquarters on June 1, 2015, which was attended by U.S. Department of State Under Secretary Richard Stengel (Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs), U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary Evan Ryan (Educational and Cultural Affairs), UNESCO Director‐General Irina Bokova, and UNESCO Assistant Director‐General for Culture Alfredo Perez de Armiñan. UNESCO used this opportunity to promote further its important #UNITE4HERITAGE initiative http://www.unite4heritage.org. On the same day, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) announced the re‐launch of the Emergency Red List of Iraqi Cultural Objects at Risk 2015 Update http://icom.museum/resources/red‐lists‐database/red‐list/iraq/ at the Louvre.