THE LONG READ: Battling ISIS's war on culture with technology

ON A summer day in 2014, with the high Syrian sun beating down, a volunteer with a camera made his way toward the rose-gold ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra.

The stifling heat was immediately forgotten as he approached the site, an oasis for travellers since the 19th century BC. The volunteer drew comfort from the shade of the monuments and stood in awe of the history they carried. But he was there to work; bringing himself back to the present, he readied his camera.

A few months later, Palmyra lay in ruins, another casualty of ISIS’s crusade in Syria and Iraq. Its towers and colonnades had been reduced to rubble and its temples looted. From above, it looked as if someone had taken a broom and swept away what had remained of the ancient city, tidying it up for the extremists who now control that patch of ground.