Islamic State Controls Half Of Syria After Seize Ancient Site Palmyra
Written by : Mohamed Abdel FattahIslamic State fighters in Syria have taken full control of Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, according to activists and a monitoring group said on Thursday.
Deadly clashes had raged overnight between the Syrian government and Islamic State, with troops firing rockets from outside Palmyra in an attempt to block Islamic State 's offensive.
Islamic State launched an attack on Palmyra last week, causing material damage to residential areas while clashes left many dead and injured.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday that according to its estimates, 462 people have been killed since IS began its offensive on Palmyra and nearby areas on May 13. It said the dead included 241 troops and pro-government gunmen, as well as 150 IS fighters. The rest were civilians, presumably killed by ISIS or in the crossfire.
It was the first time that the Islamic State militants seized an entire city from Syrian government forces; it won control of its first major city, Raqqa, from Syrian insurgents and the Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front after the two became rivals.
Palmyra used to be one of the most important cultural centres in the ancient world and stood on a trade route that linked Persia, India and China with the Roman Empire.
The Sunni Muslim group has destroyed antiquities and ancient monuments in neighbouring Iraq and there are fears it might now devastate Palmyra, one of the most important ancient World Heritage sites in the Middle East.
A Syrian antiquities chief, Maamoun Abdulkarim, who received UNESCO's Cultural Heritage Rescue Prize last year, said hundreds of statues and ancient artefacts from Palmyra's museum have already been transferred out of the city.
The Observatory said that Islamic State fighters also had seized one of Syria's biggest weapons depots as well as army bases, an airport, the significant gas fields of al-Hail and Arak . The Associated Press reported that the prison, known as Tadmur, that has long been viewed as a symbol of state repression .
Islamic State fighters broke into the prison Wednesday night, according to reports from activists. Potentially, the militants could profit from selling gas-generated power back to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian state media had earlier reported that government troops had withdrawn from the site after ensuring the safe removal of its inhabitants. Palmyra has a population of some 65,000 people and residents were fleeing the town toward the city of Homs and the capital, Damascus, according to Talal Barazi, the provincial governor.
The assault on Palmyra came days after the militants took the Iraqi city of Ramadi, It was the biggest victory for Islamic State in Iraq since security forces and Shi'ite paramilitary groups began pushing the militants back last year, aided by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition.
More than 3,000 air strikes carried out so far,United States has supported a deep reform of Iraq's army and offered training to Sunni tribesmen.But that failed to prevent the loss of Ramadi, where militias backed by US arch-foe Iran will now take the lead in any counter-attack.
According to officials from Anbar, at least 500 people were killed in three days of fighting in Ramadi during which IS used waves of suicide car bombs.
The United States plans to deliver 1,000 anti-tank weapons to Iraq in June to combat suicide bombings like those that helped the Islamist group grab Ramadi, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Thursday.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the decision to plan an operation to try to retake Ramadi.
Sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/21/mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKBN0O60L120150521
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/world/middleeast/syria-palmyra-ruins-isis.html?_r=0
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/05/21/isis-controls-50-percent-syria-after-takeover-palmyra-monitoring-group-says/
Deadly clashes had raged overnight between the Syrian government and Islamic State, with troops firing rockets from outside Palmyra in an attempt to block Islamic State 's offensive.
Islamic State launched an attack on Palmyra last week, causing material damage to residential areas while clashes left many dead and injured.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday that according to its estimates, 462 people have been killed since IS began its offensive on Palmyra and nearby areas on May 13. It said the dead included 241 troops and pro-government gunmen, as well as 150 IS fighters. The rest were civilians, presumably killed by ISIS or in the crossfire.
It was the first time that the Islamic State militants seized an entire city from Syrian government forces; it won control of its first major city, Raqqa, from Syrian insurgents and the Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front after the two became rivals.
Palmyra used to be one of the most important cultural centres in the ancient world and stood on a trade route that linked Persia, India and China with the Roman Empire.
The Sunni Muslim group has destroyed antiquities and ancient monuments in neighbouring Iraq and there are fears it might now devastate Palmyra, one of the most important ancient World Heritage sites in the Middle East.
A Syrian antiquities chief, Maamoun Abdulkarim, who received UNESCO's Cultural Heritage Rescue Prize last year, said hundreds of statues and ancient artefacts from Palmyra's museum have already been transferred out of the city.
The Observatory said that Islamic State fighters also had seized one of Syria's biggest weapons depots as well as army bases, an airport, the significant gas fields of al-Hail and Arak . The Associated Press reported that the prison, known as Tadmur, that has long been viewed as a symbol of state repression .
Islamic State fighters broke into the prison Wednesday night, according to reports from activists. Potentially, the militants could profit from selling gas-generated power back to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian state media had earlier reported that government troops had withdrawn from the site after ensuring the safe removal of its inhabitants. Palmyra has a population of some 65,000 people and residents were fleeing the town toward the city of Homs and the capital, Damascus, according to Talal Barazi, the provincial governor.
The assault on Palmyra came days after the militants took the Iraqi city of Ramadi, It was the biggest victory for Islamic State in Iraq since security forces and Shi'ite paramilitary groups began pushing the militants back last year, aided by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition.
More than 3,000 air strikes carried out so far,United States has supported a deep reform of Iraq's army and offered training to Sunni tribesmen.But that failed to prevent the loss of Ramadi, where militias backed by US arch-foe Iran will now take the lead in any counter-attack.
According to officials from Anbar, at least 500 people were killed in three days of fighting in Ramadi during which IS used waves of suicide car bombs.
The United States plans to deliver 1,000 anti-tank weapons to Iraq in June to combat suicide bombings like those that helped the Islamist group grab Ramadi, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Thursday.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the decision to plan an operation to try to retake Ramadi.
Sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/21/mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKBN0O60L120150521
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/world/middleeast/syria-palmyra-ruins-isis.html?_r=0
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/05/21/isis-controls-50-percent-syria-after-takeover-palmyra-monitoring-group-says/
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