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Syrian Troops Said to Recapture Historic Palmyra From ISIS Syrian Troops Said to Recapture Historic Palmyra From ISIS
(about 5 hours later)
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. BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian Army said Sunday that it had fully captured Palmyra, routing Islamic State fighters who had occupied the city with its ancient ruins for almost a year, and handing President Bashar al-Assad a strategic prize. It also gave Mr. Assad something more rare: a measure of international praise.
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. The head of Unesco, the United Nations agency that had designated Palmyra’s ruins a World Heritage site, hailed the “liberation” of the city from the militants in a statement issued last week as Syrian troops were advancing. On Sunday, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, called the retaking of the ancient city “fortunate” and said the Syrian government could now protect and restore the sites, wire services reported. Among the dozens of cities and towns captured by the Islamic State, Palmyra had provoked an unusually far-reaching outcry. The extremist group, also known as ISIS and ISIL, imposed its familiar, merciless strictures on residents, including summary executions, and it destroyed some of the city’s spectacular ruins, the remains of a civilization that 2,000 years ago was a crossroads among Roman, Persian and local cultures.
But the majority of the Islamic State contingent in Palmyra had withdrawn or been routed, with hundreds of its fighters killed, the observatory said, highlighting the extremist group’s broader struggles to retain territory in Syria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. After a three-week push by the Syrian Army and its allies, including Russia, the majority of the Islamic State contingent in Palmyra had withdrawn or been driven out, with hundreds of its fighters killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict. The withering defeat underscores the Islamic State’s broader struggle to retain territory it has seized in Syria and Iraq.
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.” Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s director general of antiquities, said initial reports from Palmyra confirmed some of the destruction, but he said he was hopeful it was not as comprehensive as many had feared. The “landscape” of the ancient ruins was intact, he said.
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. The capture of Palmyra, days after the deadly Belgium bombings for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility, added weight to Mr. Assad’s contention that his government is a bulwark against the transnational extremist group. It served as an argument, too, for his own relevance even as his foes and some allies argue that he must leave power as part of a political settlement to end the war in Syria.
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. As Syrian state television aired celebratory footage of troops in Palmyra on Sunday, Mr. Assad, in a statement carried by the state news agency, said the victory was “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.”
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. Mr. Assad also contrasted what he called the success of Syria’s antiterrorism efforts with the “lack of seriousness” by a United States-led coalition fighting the Islamic State, according to the statement.
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. Lost in the celebrations was a discussion of how Palmyra had fallen in the first place. When the Islamic State captured the city in May, the militants faced little resistance from Syrian troops. At the time, residents said officers and militiamen had fled into orchards outside the city, leaving conscripted soldiers and residents to face the militants alone.
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. The city sits at a crossroads of highways that lead to the populated areas of Damascus and Homs, and to territories farther east that the Islamic State controls. It was recaptured with significant help from Russia’s military, which carried out dozens of airstrikes — highlighting the central role of President Vladimir V. Putin in solidifying Mr. Assad’s hold on power since Russia intervened in the war in September.
Residents who had stayed in Palmyra while it was under the Islamic State’s control said they had been caught between violence from both sides. As government forces attacked, sometimes shelling or conducting airstrikes on civilian areas, the militants publicly executed their enemies, including the city’s retired antiquities chief, Khalid al-Asaad, whose body was reported to have been strung up on a traffic pole.
The militants also began destroying additional monuments, among the stone ruins in one of world’s most renowned historical sites, spread over a vast area adjacent to the city.
Antiquities officials feared that several significant monuments had been fully or nearly destroyed, including the Temple of Baalshamin, as well as the Temple of Baal, which served as the modern backdrop for concerts at the Palmyra Music Festival.
The arrival of government troops provided an opportunity to inspect the damage more closely. Mr. Abdulkarim, the antiquities director, said Sunday that he hoped to visit the city within a day or two, after being unable to travel there for two years because of the fighting.
There had been damage to the fence of the city’s medieval citadel, “but it can be fixed,” he said. And some stones at the Temple of Baal are still intact, he said.
“We will try to rebuild it,” he said. “It won’t be like before.”“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. State television footage from inside the city’s museum showed exhibits knocked over and extensive damage to the building, including a hole in the ceiling that appeared to have been caused by shelling or an airstrike.
The Islamic State fighters, he said, “did damage to ruins that can never be compensated.” The director of the museum, Khalil al-Hariri, who left Palmyra 10 months ago, said in a text message that he would return on Monday with a heavy heart: His brother, a cousin and other friends were killed by the Islamic State before they could flee the city. “Returning means a lot of painful memories,” he said. He was also worried about the extent of damage to the cultural artifacts.
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. “It’s going to be exhausting,” Mr. Hariri said. “A lot of work has to be done.”
Khaled al-Homsi, an anti-government activist and native of the city who now lives outside Syria, watched television footage on Sunday that showed the citadel, which faced his former home. The Islamic State fighters, he said, “did damage to ruins that can never be compensated.”
For some Syrians, the city’s capture by government troops had come too late. The sister of a soldier who was publicly executed in Palmyra by the Islamic State accused Mr. Assad’s government of dispatching poorly equipped soldiers, including her brother, to defend the city after the militants had taken it, and sending them to certain death.
And she cursed residents who she said had worked as spies for the Islamic State, in a worrying sign that there may be a bloody reckoning yet to come in Palmyra. The woman, who fled Syria for Europe after her brother was killed, questioned what she would get out of the city’s changing hands.