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For Middle East historians, it's a nightmare come true.
Video posted online purports to show smoke rising over Palmyra, a strategic city in central Syria that is also home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Observers say that Islamic State has seized a third of the city, raising fears for the fate of Palmyra's ancient ruins -- like these -- that date back some 2000 years.
That's when the region was under Roman control and according to UNESCO, was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world.
Syria's antiquities chief says hundreds of statues have been moved from this historic Syrian city to locations safe from Islamic State militants -- who have already destroyed monuments in neighboring Iraq.
But many others are too large to be transported...raising fears they they too are about to be destroyed.