ISIS now controls Palmyra in Syria
ISIS shocked the world with the capture of Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra threatens a UNESCO World Heritage Site described as having “stood at the crossroads of several civilizations,” with its art and architecture mixing Greek, Roman and Persian influences, according to that U.N. group. This success is just days after Sunni extremist group conquered the Iraqi town of Ramadi.
U.N. and Syrian officials have expressed fears that ISIS will destroy the ruins, just as it devastated the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and smashed statues in Iraq’s Mosul Museum.
photo/Islamic State flag
Palmyra, also known as Tadmur, isn’t just a historical site, there are tens of thousands of people, many of whom fear they’ll meet the same fate as others ISIS has conquered.
CNN details that “at least 100 Syrian soldiers died in fighting overnight, Syrian warplanes carried out airstrikes Thursday in and around Palmyra, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. But there’s no indication that Syrian ground forces will try to take back the city, 150 miles northeast of Damascus, the capital. Nor that any other countries such as the United States will come to the rescue.”
ISIS fighters made a big push early Thursday, and Syrian government forces retreated, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is monitoring the conflict.
“ISIS has taken the prison of Palmyra, the intelligence headquarters, everything,” said the executive director of that London-based group, Rami Abdurrahman.
In a daily news bulletin, ISIS credited its fighters with “completely liberating” the city and taking over the prison and a nearby military airbase. It said this assault left “several dead soldiers behind,” and it tweeted photos claiming to be from Palmyra that showed bloodied bodies of men who weren’t in uniform.
ISIS militants killed at least 17 people in Palmyra, the observatory reported, saying some deaths were beheadings.
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