Isis retakes Palmyra
‘Catastrophe’ as city of ancient ruins falls again
ISLAMIC State terrorists have taken back control of a key desert city in Syria in a significant advance after a year of setbacks.
The takeover came when the Syrian military withdrew from Palmyra after days of fighting on its outskirts.
IS fighters re-entered the ancient city, home to towering 2,000-year-old ruins, on Saturday for the first time since they were expelled by Syrian and Russian forces amid much fanfare nine months ago.
The group appeared to be taking advantage of Syria and Russia’s preoccupation with anti-government rebels in Aleppo. Its attack coincided with a massive government offensive to capture the last remaining opposition-held neighborhoods in the northern city.
It is the second time IS has taken over Palmyra. In May last year, jihadists stormed the city after a week-long siege that ended with the retreat of the Syrian military.
Fighters carried out mass executions in the city’s amphitheatre and rampaged through its museums and ruins, blowing up priceless artefacts and killing a longserving archaeologist. Attempts have been made to save the city’s remaining treasures, but in a phone interview with The Guardian yesterday, Syria’s director of antiquities Maamoun Abdulkarim said: ‘The catastrophe has happened. I am losing hope – it looks like we have lost the city.’
An IS-affiliated news channel claimed victory in the battle, saying its fighters now control the city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, confirmed the takeover. The loss of the city will come as a shock given gains by local forces elsewhere in Syria and Iraq.
Palmyra is mainly of symbolic importance in the war, but its central location also gives it some strategic significance.
Its fall to IS comes as the UK prepares to host a defence ministers’ meeting on Thursday to discuss tactics on defeating the group.
Meanwhile, Syrian troops and allied militias, backed by Russia, continued their push in Aleppo.
More than 10,000 people were said to have fled rebel-held areas in the city since midnight on Saturday.
In a swipe at Russia yesterday, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said bombing hospitals and preventing humanitarian aid to the city was ‘not a victory for anybody’.
The US and Russia have tabled a proposal to rebels that would offer safe passage from the city.