The statue had been covered with a metal plate and sandbags to protect it from fighting during what passed for Syria's civil war. On 27 June 2015, it was severely damaged by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after the capture of Palmyra (*), in what was described by Maʾmūn ʿAbd al-Karīm, then Syria's director of antiquities and museums, as "the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyra’s heritage."
* ISIL captured Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, from government forces on 21 May, prompting international concern about the fate of the city’s antiquities.
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