Russia travel agency offers vacations to Syria conflict

By Maureen O'Hare, CNN

Updated 0158 GMT (0958 HKT) December 18, 2015

Once the largest mosques in the world, built in the 9th century on the Tigris River north of Baghdad. The mosque is famous for the Malwiya Tower, a 52-meter minaret with spiraling ramps for worshipers to climb. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4401577.stm" target="_blank">The site was bombed in 2005</a>, in an insurgent attack on a NATO position, destroying the top of the minaret and surrounding walls.<br /><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/10/23/pkg-wedeman-iraq-historical-artifacts-threat-isis.cnn.html"><strong>Video:</strong> ISIS targets historical artifacts</a>
Photos: Precious monuments lost in Middle East
Great Mosque of Samarra – Once the largest mosques in the world, built in the 9th century on the Tigris River north of Baghdad. The mosque is famous for the Malwiya Tower, a 52-meter minaret with spiraling ramps for worshipers to climb. The site was bombed in 2005, in an insurgent attack on a NATO position, destroying the top of the minaret and surrounding walls.
Video: ISIS targets historical artifacts
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An "oasis in the Syrian desert"<strong> </strong>according to UNESCO, this Aramaic city has stood since the second millennium BC and featured some of the most advanced architecture of the period. The site subsequently evolved through Greco-Roman and Persian periods, providing unique historic insight into those cultures. ISIS now controls the ancient city and has <a href="/2015/11/08/architecture/palmyra-around-the-world/index.html" target="_blank">destroyed shrines, temples and monuments</a>.
Photos: Precious monuments lost in Middle East
Palmyra, Syria – An "oasis in the Syrian desert" according to UNESCO, this Aramaic city has stood since the second millennium BC and featured some of the most advanced architecture of the period. The site subsequently evolved through Greco-Roman and Persian periods, providing unique historic insight into those cultures. ISIS now controls the ancient city and has destroyed shrines, temples and monuments.
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