Syria has six world heritage sites; the Ancient City of Damascus, Palmyra, the Ancient City
of Bosra, the Ancient City of Aleppo, Crac Des Chevaliers and the ancient villages of
Northern Syria.
And all six of them are listed by UNESCO as in danger.
Some of them have already been destroyed or seriously damaged and invariably both sides
blame each other for doing so but ultimately neither can be absolved or blamed by destroying
Syria's culture.
This was Aleppo's ancient sukh before the conflict started, a bustling marketplace - the
largest historic covered market in the world and a major tourist attraction.
And this was the sukh after it had been set alight.
A fire which almost completely gutted it and other parts have been destroyed by shelling.
One of Syria's most famous mosques, the great mosque of Aleppo was hit during shelling.
It's supposedly the burial place of John the Baptist's father and a minaret was built in
the year 1090.
It lasted just under a millennium before being destroyed in a moment by a wayward shell.
And in the Crac Des Chevaliers, which is a castle that dates back to the times of the
first crusade although it's been inhabited since the 11th Century.
Both opposition forces and Assad's army have used it as a strategic position and large
parts of it have been destroyed by heavy bombardment and gunfire.
Palmyra is the homes to the ruins of the Temple of Bel dating back nearly two thousand years.
It was an important Greco-Roman settlement but it was inhabited for thousands of years
before that but that hasn't stopped both sides from bringing conflict to its doorstep.
Syria also has 12 sites that are on UNESCO's tentative list that are world heritage status
and many of those are also in danger.
Maaloula is one of them, a beautiful village and one of the only places in the world where
ancient Aramaic is spoken.
Jabhat al-Nusra and brigades from Homs recently joined forces to attack a government checkpoint
and entered the village.
Since then both sides have been struggling to take control of the village with some of
its churches, monastries and other important religious sites coming under fire.
The latest news was that the government had retaken the village and on top of the UNESCO
lists there are countless religious buildings, markets, castles and other ancient sites that
give Syria such a rich culture that have either been damaged or destroyed.
Like this one the Jobar Synagogue in Damascus.
It was one of the oldest synagogue's in the world and a pilgrimage site for Jews.
In March this year it was hit by shells and destroyed.
But there's a hell of a lot of looting going on as well.
UNESCO says that museums, ancient religious sites, archaeological sites and more have
been targeted by thieves.
Some artifacts are discovered as traffickers try and cross borders out of the country.
By the end of August, 18 mosaics and 73 other artifacts have been confiscated at the Lebanese
border but many more have made it through and are perhaps lost forever.
Now apart from the fact that these are beautiful, ancient culturally significant sites there's
the economic importance too.
Before the conflict started Syria had around eight and a half million visitors a year and
was generating more than 11 billion dollars from tourism and unsurprisingly now that number's
down at almost zero.
If all this destruction of Syria's cultural heritage continues the chances of the country
being able to rebuild when this conflict if finally over are even slimmer which is why
the UN special representative for Syria, Lakhdar Bhraimi said this,