Vandals Blast, Ransack Ancient Lebanese Tombs

Robbers dynamited and looted three ancient Roman tombs in the southern port city of Tyre, 45 miles south of Beirut, police and the newspaper An Nahar reported.

An official in charge of the sites, Wafik Allam, said, “The vandals destroyed the tombs in order to steal the items inside.”

Allam said that similar vandalism had destroyed as many as 10 tombs recently, with the loss of contents worth “millions of dollars.”

It was one of a number of assaults against the archeological sites of Tyre, considered one of the more important locations for Roman ruins.

With the absence of any security measure that could protect the archeological sites in Tyre, now controlled by the Shia Muslim militia Amal, ancient items are displayed in shop windows or are offered by street vendors at prices far below their real value, Tyre residents say.