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UP FRONTTuesday 29 March 2016
Syrian forces recapture Palmyra from IS Retaking of Palmyra reveals
ALBERT AJI
PHILIP ISSA
Associated Press
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) —
Syrian government forces
recaptured the ancient
city of Palmyra over the
Syrian government soldiers patrol a street in the ancient city of Palmyra, central Syria. Syrian gov-
ernment forces recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra, scoring an important victory over Islamic
State fighters who waged a 10-month reign of terror in the city.
weekend, scoring an im-
portant victory over Islamic
State fighters who waged
a 10-month reign of ter-
ror there and dealing the
group its first major de-
feat since an international
agreement to battle terror-
ism 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- weeks, according to the
old ruins that once drew
tens of thousands of visitors have also inflicted dozens
each year before IS de-
stroyed many of the monu-
ments.
The extent of the destruc-
tion remained unclear. Ini-
tial footage on Syrian TV
showed widespread rub-
ble and shattered statues.
But Palmyra’s grand colon-
nades appeared to be in
relatively good condition.
The government forces
were supported by Leba-
nese militias and Russian
air power. The Islamic
State now faces pressure
on several fronts as Kurdish
ground forces advance on
its territory in Syria’s north group.
and government forces
have a new path to its de
facto capital, Raqqa, and
the contested eastern city
of Deir el-Zour.
International airstrikes have
pounded IS territory, killing
two top leaders in recent
Pentagon. Those strikes
of civilian casualties.
In Iraq, government forc-
es backed by the U.S.
and Iran are preparing a
ground offensive to retake
the country’s second larg-
est city, Mosul.
The fall of Palmyra comes
a month after a partial more destroyed antiquities
cease-fire in Syria’s civil
war came into force. ALBERT AJI
The truce was sponsored BASSEM MROUE
by the United States and Associated Press
Russia in part to allow the DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The recapture of Syria’s an-
government and interna- cient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State group has
brought new revelations of the destruction wreaked
by the extremists, who decapitated priceless statues
and smashed or looted artifacts in the city’s museum.
Experts say they need time to assess the full extent of
damage in Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site
(SANA via AP) boasting 2,000-year-old Roman-era colonnades and
other ruins, which once attracted tens of thousands
tional community to focus of tourists every year. Syrian troops drove IS out on
on al-Qaida styled mili- Sunday, some 10 months after the militants seized the
tants, among them the IS town.
The world knew through satellite images and IS videos
In comments reported on that the militants destroyed the Temple of Bel, which
state TV, President Bashar dated back to A.D. 32, the Temple of Baalshamin,
Assad described the Pal- which was several stories high and fronted by six tow-
myra operation as a “sig- ering columns, and the Arch of Triumph, which was
nificant achievement” of- built under the Roman emperor Septimius Severus be-
fering “new evidence of tween A.D. 193 and A.D. 211.
the effectiveness of the But no one knew the extent of the damage inside the
strategy espoused by the museum until a Syrian TV reporter entered on Sunday
Syrian army and its allies in and found the floor littered with shattered statues. A
the war against terrorism.” sculpture of the Greek goddess Athena was decapi-
IS drove government forc- tated, and the museum’s basement appeared to
es from Palmyra in a mat- have been dynamited or hit with a shell.
ter of days last May and Some of the damage may have been caused by
later demolished some shelling, which would have knocked the statues from
of its best-known monu- their stands. In the Syrian TV footage from inside the
ments, including two large museum, a hole can be seen in the ceiling, most likely
temples dating back more from an artillery shell.
than 1,800 years and a Ro- Unlike in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where IS militants filmed
man triumphal archway. themselves with sledgehammers proudly destroying
ancient artifacts, no militant video was released from
Palmyra’s museum.
Before Palmyra fell to IS, authorities were able to relo-
cate more than 400 statues and hundreds of artifacts
to safe areas, but larger statues couldn’t be moved,
according to the head of antiquities and museums,
Maamoun Abdul-Karim. He told the AP that about
20 statues were defaced and others had their heads
chopped off. State media had earlier reported that
a 2nd century lion statue, previously thought to have
been destroyed by IS, was damaged but could be re-
stored.
Abdul-Karim said he was relieved that many of the
statues had only been disfigured and not demolished.
“It’s like having a person whose face was burnt. He
is not as good looking as he used to be but he is still
alive,” he said.
He said officials have a list of all the statues that were
left behind in Palmyra when IS captured the town,
which will help in documenting the damage.