The United States supports the idea of sending a UNESCO mission to Syria's Palmyra and hopes that experts of this organization will thoroughly analyze the destruction there, the U.S. Department of State has said.

"We support a UNESCO mission composed of international experts, with appropriate expertise, to travel to Syria's damaged World Heritage sites when the security situation allows, to assess and analyze, by means of documentation and inventory, what is needed for preservation, restoration, and safeguarding, taking into account the overall objective of ensuring the long-term sustainability and integrity of these sites," Department of State spokesperson Noel Clay told Interfax.

"Any actual conservation work, aside from emergency interventions, must be part of a thoughtful and measured response, bearing in mind the results of the UNESCO expert mission's analysis," he said.