Damaged ‘Bride of the Desert’ in Syrian government’s hands

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian government forces recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra on Sunday, scoring an important victory over Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters who waged a 10-month reign of terror there and dealing the group its first major defeat since an international agreement to battle terrorism in the fractured nation took effect last year.

The city known to Syrians as the “Bride of the Desert” is famous for its 2,000-year-old ruins that once drew tens of thousands of visitors each year before ISIL destroyed many of the monuments. The extent of the destruction remained unclear. Initial footage on Syrian TV showed widespread rubble and shattered statues. But Palmyra’s grand colonnades appeared to be in relatively good condition.

The government forces were supported by Lebanese militias and Russian air power. ISIL now faces pressure on several fronts as Kurdish ground forces advance on its territory in Syria’s north and government forces have a new path to its de facto capital, Raqqa, and the contested city of Deir el-Zour.

International airstrikes have pounded ISIL territory, killing two top leaders in recent weeks, according to the Pentagon. Those strikes have also inflicted dozens of civilian casualties.

In Iraq, government forces backed by the U.S. and Iran are preparing a ground offensive to retake the second largest city, Mosul.

The fall of Palmyra comes a month after a partial cease-fire in Syria’s civil war came into force. The truce was sponsored by the United States and Russia in part to allow the government and international community to focus on ISIL.

In comments reported on state TV, President Bashar Assad described the Palmyra operation as a “significant achievement” offering “new evidence of the effectiveness of the strategy espoused by the Syrian army and its allies in the war against terrorism.”