DAMASCUS: Fighters of the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group seized Syria’s Palmyra on Thursday, as Unesco warned that destruction of the ancient city would be “an enormous loss to humanity”.

The capture of Palmyra, a 2,000-year-old metropolis, reportedly leaves more than half of Syria under IS control and comes days after the group also expanded its control in Iraq.

“Palmyra is the birthplace of human civilisation. It belongs to the whole of humanity and I think everyone today should be worried about what is happening,” Unesco chief Irina Bokova said on Thursday.

IS fighters had spread out through Palmyra, including at the archaeological site in the city’s southwest, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian state media said loyalist troops withdrew after “a large number of IS terrorists entered the city”.

‘Group now controls half of Syrian territory’

In an online statement, IS proclaimed its capture of the entire city, which is strategically located at the crossroads of key highways leading west to Damascus and Homs, and east to Iraq.

The IS militants, notorious for demolishing archaeological treasures since declaring a so-called “caliphate” last year straddling Iraq and Syria, fought their way into Palmyra on foot after breaking through in the city’s north.

Known in Syria as “the pearl of the desert”, Palmyra is home to colonnaded alleys, elaborately decorated tombs, and ancient Greco-Roman ruins that until recently attracted more than 150,000 tourists yearly.

IS sparked international outrage this year when it blew up the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and smashed artefacts in the museum of Mosul, both in Iraq.

Analysts said the city also has strategic importance as the gateway to Homs and Damascus in the west, and to the Iraqi frontier in the east.

“IS now dominates central Syria, a crossroads of primary importance,” said Fabrice Balanche, a French expert on Syria.

“Taking Palmyra opens the way to Damascus and Homs. Eventually, this axis can be threatened,” he said.

By taking Palmyra, IS controls “more than 95,000 square kilometres in Syria, which is 50 per cent of the country’s territory”, the Observatory said.

The jihadist group dominates the provinces of Deir Ezzor and Raqa and has a strong presence in Hasakeh, Aleppo, Homs and Hama.

It has also seized most of Syria’s oil and gas fields, using the income to fund the expansion of its “caliphate”.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2015

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