Khaled al-Asaad

In February 2021, Syrian state sources reported the discovery of al-Asaad's body in the countryside 10km east of Palmyra.

Khaled Mohamad al-Asaad (Arabic: خالد الأسعد, Arabic pronunciation: [ɐlʔæsʕæd], January 1932 – 18 August 2015) was a Syrian archaeologist and the head of antiquities at the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He held this position for over forty years. Al-Asaad was publicly beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on 18 August 2015, at the age of eighty-three.

In May 2015, Tadmur (the modern city of Palmyra) and the adjacent ancient city of Palmyra came under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Al-Asaad helped evacuate the city museum prior to ISIS's takeover, but was himself captured by the terrorist organisation. ISIS then tortured Al-Asaad in an attempt to discover the location of the ancient artefacts that he helped hide. He was murdered in Tadmur on 18 August 2015 at the age of eighty-three.

Along with al-Asaad, Qassem Abdullah Yehya, the Deputy Director of the DGAM Laboratories, also protected the Palmyra site, and was murdered by ISIS while on duty on 12 August 2015. He was thirty-seven years old.

When he retired in 2003, his son Walid took over his work at Palmyra. They both were reportedly detained by ISIS in August 2015 – Walid survived.

From 1974 onward, Al-Asaad organised exhibitions of Palmyran antiques.

During his career, Al-Asaad engaged in the excavations and restoration of Palmyra. He became the principal custodian of the Palmyra site in 1963, a position he held for forty years. His own expeditions focused on the late third-century ramparts of Palmyra. , and worked with American, Polish, German, French, and Swiss archaeological missions. His achievement is the elevation of Palmyra to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He was also fluent in Aramaic and regularly translated texts until 2011.

It is believed that he joined the Syrian Ba'ath Party around 1954. However, it is unclear whether he was an active supporter of the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. According to The Economist, some have claimed he was a "staunch supporter" of Assad.

Al-Asaad was born in 1932 in Palmyra, where he spent most of his life. He held a diploma in history and was educated at the University of Damascus. Al-Asaad was the father of six sons and five daughters, one of whom was named Zenobia after the well-known Palmyrene queen.