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Syrian Troops Said to Recapture Historic Palmyra From ISIS Syrian Troops Said to Recapture Historic Palmyra From ISIS
(about 9 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government forces recaptured the desert oasis city of Palmyra on Sunday, state media and a monitoring group reported, after driving out Islamic State fighters who had imposed a brutal occupation for the better part of a year, summarily executing residents and dynamiting the city’s ancient ruins. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government forces recaptured the desert oasis city of Palmyra on Sunday, the state news agency and a monitoring group reported, after driving out Islamic State fighters who had occupied the city for the better part of a year, summarily executed residents and dynamited ancient ruins.
Syrian state media, which has closely covered a three-week push by President Bashar al-Assad to regain the city, aired celebratory footage on Sunday showing government soldiers around the archaeological sites. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said that there was ongoing fighting in a few districts of the city, as well as at a military prison. Syrian state television, which has closely covered a three-week push by President Bashar al-Assad to regain Palmyra, aired celebratory footage on Sunday showing government soldiers around the historical sites. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said that fighting was continuing in a few districts of the city, as well as at a military prison.
But the majority of the Islamic State contingent in Palmyra had withdrawn or been routed, with hundreds of its fighters killed, the Observatory said, highlighting the extremist group’s broader struggles to retain territory in Syria and Iraq. At the same time, the advance by Mr. Assad’s troops handed him a strategically important military victory that added weight to contention that his government is a crucial bulwark against the jihadists of the Islamic State. But the majority of the Islamic State contingent in Palmyra had withdrawn or been routed, with hundreds of its fighters killed, the observatory said, highlighting the extremist group’s broader struggles to retain territory in Syria and Iraq. At the same time, the advance by Mr. Assad’s troops handed him a strategically important military prize that added weight to the contention that his government is a crucial bulwark against the jihadists of the Islamic State.
The battle also provided the latest evidence of how significantly Russia’s intervention on behalf of Mr. Assad had transformed his fortunes. The Islamic State fighters had easily taken Palmyra last May from Syrian government troops that had hardly mounted a fight. The recapture of the city on Sunday came after Russia carried out intensive airstrikes in support of the government coalition attacking Palmyra. In a statement carried by the Syrian state news agency on Sunday, Mr. Assad called the victory “an important achievement and new evidence of the effectiveness of the strategy followed by the Syrian army and its allies in the war against terrorism.”
Residents of the city had been caught between the combatants since the city fell, subject to the jihadists’ unforgiving strictures and pitiless violence, while also enduring heavy shelling on civilian areas by government forces. The battle also provided further confirmation of how significantly Russia’s intervention on behalf of Mr. Assad had transformed his fortunes. Islamic State fighters had easily taken Palmyra in May from government troops, who had hardly mounted a fight. The recapture of the city on Sunday came after Russia carried out dozens of airstrikes in support of the government coalition.
During their occupation, Islamic State fighters publicized their destruction of several significant monuments in the ancient city, a Unesco World Heritage site, and the entrance of government forces over the last few days allowed closer assessments by antiquities officials. The Islamic State’s capture of the city had provoked worldwide anguish because it gave the extremist group control over Palmyra’s spectacular ruins, the remains of a civilization that 2,000 years ago was a crossroads between Roman, Persian and local cultures.
Khaled al-Homsi, an anti-government activist and native of the city who now lives outside of Syria, said that television footage appeared to show damage to a medieval citadel that faced his former home. During the Islamic State’s occupation of the Unesco World Heritage site, antiquities officials feared that several significant sites had been fully or partially destroyed, including the Temple of Baalshamin, as well as the Temple of Baal, which has served as the modern backdrop for concerts in the Palmyra Music Festival.
The entrance of government troops into the city will provide an opportunity to more closely inspect the damage. In a statement last week, Irina Bokova, the director general of Unesco, welcomed the “liberation” of Palmyra from the Islamic State and called the reported damage to the site an “immense loss” to Syrians and to the world.
Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s director general of antiquities, who has not been able to visit Palmyra for the past two years because of the fighting there, said on Sunday that he hoped to visit the city within a day or two. Initial reports suggested that there had been damage to the wall of the city’s medieval citadel, “but it can be fixed,” he said. The Temple of Baal was largely destroyed, though some stones remained intact, he said.
“We will try to rebuild it,” he said. “It won’t be like before.”
Khaled al-Homsi, an antigovernment activist and native of the city who now lives outside of Syria, watched television footage on Sunday that showed damage to the citadel, which faced his former home.
The Islamic State fighters, he said, “did damage to ruins that can never be compensated.”The Islamic State fighters, he said, “did damage to ruins that can never be compensated.”
Residents who had stayed in the city while it was under the Islamic State’s control said they had felt trapped in the fighting between the combatants — subjected to the jihadists’ unforgiving strictures and pitiless violence, while also enduring the heavy shelling of civilian areas by government forces.