Page 9 - Aruba Today
P. 9
WORLD NEWS 9
Wednesday 30 March 2016
Syria’s Assad tries to polish image with Palmyra’s recapture
ZEINA KARAM — similar to the assistance Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks during an interview with terror in the town. It dealt
Associated Press and training provided to Iran’s Khabar TV, in Damascus, Syria. the extremist group its first
BEIRUT (AP) — The recap- the Iraqi military on the oth- major defeat at the hands
ture of Palmyra in central er front in the war — seems (SANA via AP) of government forces in
Syria from Islamic State out of the question. years.
militants puts government But with the international tions coup,” said Thomas “they’re exploiting it and it During their stay, the ex-
forces at the heart of the focus now on fighting the Pierret, a lecturer at the works very well,” he said. tremists destroyed some
fight against the jihadist Islamic State group — and University of Edinburgh, de- Government forces re- of Palmyra’s best-known
group — and not just geo- a partial cease-fire in place scribing Palmyra’s recap- captured Palmyra on Sun- monuments, including two
graphically speaking. to facilitate that — there ture. The Syrian govern- day, scoring an important large temples dating back
For President Bashar Assad, appears to be tacit U.S. ment recognizes the West- victory over Islamic State more than 1,800 years
recapturing the historic approval for at least this ern “obsession” with the fighters who had over- and a Roman triumphal
town represents a strate- part of Assad’s offensive town’s ancient ruins, and seen a 10-month reign of arch. The militants also
gic political coup through in Syria to continue. If that used the ancient Roman
which he hopes to con- is seen to develop, it could amphitheater for public
vince the West that the Syr- help the authoritarian ruler killings, including a video
ian army is a credible part- survive a ruinous 5-year-old they released showing 25
ner in combatting terror- conflict that has seen half boys with pistols shooting
ism as it ramps up the fight the country’s population captured Syrian soldiers,
against Islamic State. displaced. with the colonnades in the
It is an awkward argument The desert town of Palmy- background.
that the U.S. has repeatedly ra, with its 2,000-year-old The government troops,
rebuffed. Officials in Wash- ruins, is an archaeological joined by Iranian-backed
ington are quick to point gem and a cherished land- militiamen, were sup-
out that it was Assad’s bru- mark known endearingly to ported by massive Rus-
tal crackdown on his own Syrians as the “Bride of the sian airpower throughout
people that created the Desert.” It is also a strategic their three-week offensive.
kind of vacuum that al- crossroads linking the Syri- When they swept victori-
lowed extremists like IS to an capital, Damascus, with ously into Palmyra, they
flourish in the first place. the country’s east and the emphasized the care tak-
An alliance between the border with Iraq. en by the army not to harm
U.S.-led coalition fighting IS “It’s a fantastic public rela- the archaeological sites.
