Former UN chief Boutros Boutros Ghali hailed the UN cultural agency UNESCO for calling Daesh's demolition of a renowned ancient Roman temple in the Syrian city of Palmyra a war crime.

"I welcomed the decision but at the same time, the organization (UNESCO) should take more measures to prevent smuggling and destroying ancient antiquities," the veteran Egyptian diplomat told MENA.

"These antiquities do not belong to a certain person or certain bodies but they belong to the whole human kind", he said