Why, when, and where do participants in civil wars engage in intentional cultural destruction (ICD)? Focusing on the case of ISIS in Syria, our article examines how ideological and strategic considerations intersect to shape ICD campaigns. We propose that ideologically motivated combatants rely on ICD as a form of collective violence aimed at reinforcing territorial control, and hypothesize that ICD events are most likely in areas where a group is actively contesting territory. Using an original dataset that combines data on ICD events in Syria with measures of combatant control, we conduct a quantitative analysis of the main factors contributing to the incidence of ISIS-inflicted ICD across Syria’s governorates and over time. We rely on panel regressions to assess the importance of territorial control relative to other prominent factors contributing to ICD, such as the presence of internationally recognized cultural sites and the share of ethno-religious minorities. We find that the dynamics of combatant control play a central role in accounting for the distribution of ISIS-inflicted ICD events in Syria.

内战参与者为何、何时何地进行蓄意文化破坏 (ICD)？我们的文章以叙利亚境内的 ISIS 案例为重点，探讨了意识形态和战略考虑如何相互交叉以塑造 ICD 运动。我们建议出于意识形态动机的战斗员将 ICD 作为一种旨在加强领土控制的集体暴力形式，并假设 ICD 事件最有可能发生在一个团体积极争夺领土的地区。使用将叙利亚 ICD 事件数据与战斗人员控制措施相结合的原始数据集，我们对导致叙利亚各省和一段时间内 ISIS 造成的 ICD 发生率的主要因素进行了定量分析。我们依靠面板回归来评估领土控制相对于导致 ICD 的其他突出因素的重要性，例如国际公认的文化遗址的存在和民族宗教少数群体的份额。我们发现，战斗人员控制的动态在解释 ISIS 造成的 ICD 事件在叙利亚的分布中发挥着核心作用。