In light of the Timbuktu conviction, a history of destruction of cultural sites

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The war-crimes prosecution of an Islamic radical for demolishing Timbuktu's ancient mausoleums is aimed at halting a brutal wave of cultural destruction across the Middle East and elsewhere. But it is not only Islamist extremists who have perpetrated the assaults on the world's priceless heritage. Here are some examples of the destruction of unique historic sites.

Syria

In recent years, the most notorious act of deliberate destruction was the 2015 attack on Palmyra, one of the world's best-preserved Roman cities, dating back about 2,000 years. Though much of the ancient site has survived the assault, Islamist radicals of the so-called Islamic State movement blew up some of the site's most famous temples, tombs and statues, and even an ancient archway.

But religious extremists were not the only perpetrators. Crac des Chevaliers, a beautifully preserved 12th-century Crusader castle, was shelled by the Syrian army during fighting with rebels in 2012, damaging its medieval chapel. Syrian air strikes damaged the castle again in 2013.

Afghanistan

Among the country's most glorious treasures were the monumental Buddhas of Bamiyan, carved into the side of a sandstone cliff in the sixth century on the ancient Silk Road trading route. The huge monuments were once surrounded by Buddhist monasteries, becoming a centre for religion, philosophy and art. The monuments were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, but the Taliban dynamited them in 2001 after condemning them as idols. The Taliban also wreaked heavy destruction in Afghanistan's museums, vandalizing hundreds of statues.

Libya

After the toppling of long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, Islamist militias used bulldozers and wrecking teams to demolish a wide range of historic sites. They destroyed Sufi shrines and mosques, Christian graves, Turkish mausoleums and other sites. "They came late at night, with their pickaxes and their sledgehammers," the imam of the biggest mosque in Tripoli's old town told The Globe and Mail in 2013, pointing to the holes that remained after the radicals ransacked and destroyed tombs in the 18th-century mosque compound.

China

During the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s, inspired by Mao Zedong's ideological rhetoric, zealous crowds led by the Red Guards launched a vicious assault on the past. They smashed statues of Jesus and Buddha, burned books and scrolls, and vandalized thousands of ancient sites, including Taoist temples and Tibetan monasteries. By some estimates, they destroyed more historic artifacts than any other group in the world. Even after the end of the Cultural Revolution, ancient sites have continued to be damaged or destroyed by commercial pressures and neglect.

Germany

In the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis deliberately destroyed thousands of historic sites and "degenerate" artworks across Germany and Eastern Europe. With flamethrowers and explosives, the Nazis destroyed the historic centre of Warsaw, among other cultural atrocities. It's worth noting, however, that Allied bombing also led to cultural destruction, including the firebombing of Dresden in 1945, which destroyed thousands of buildings, including much of the city's unique Baroque architecture. Scholars have debated whether the bombing was strategically necessary.