More than 5,000 years ago, an army from the Mesopotamian city state of Uruk marched north and destroyed a prosperous rival city, Hamoukar, using slings and clay projectiles to massacre residents before burning it to the ground. Archaeologists say the battle was perhaps the first instance of large-scale, organised warfare in human history, and it occurred in a corner of north-east Syria that, millennia later, is again soaked in blood as the country’s civil war grinds on. Besides claiming more than 120,000 lives since March 2011, the war has taken a heavy toll on Syria’s rich historical heritage.

Read More: Amid Civil War, A Battle to Preserve Syria’s Historical Heritage