International Law and the Destruction of Syria's Cultural Heritage by ISIS

The article provides an overview of ISIS attacks against the cultural heritage of Syria and classifies these attacks as war crimes and crimes against humanity. The cultural property as defined in this article are protected under many international law instruments such as the Hague Convention of 1954 and its 1999 Additional Protocol but the question to be answered is the applicability of the international treaties to non-state actors involved in contemporary armed conflicts such as ISIS.
To answer this question, the authors have studied a wide range of international documents such as the Resolutions of the UNSC and Awards rendered by international criminal tribunals and finally have reached a positive answer to the above-mentioned question. The article also contains some practical alternatives to deal with violations of IHL committed by non-state armed groups.