Roj Bash Kurdistan

The UN has NOT protected Palmyra

The coalition has NOT protected Palmyra

The world has NOT protected Palmyra

Islamic State group fighters have re-entered Palmyra, nine months after losing the ancient Syrian desert city, activists say.

ISIS held Palmyra and its nearby ruins for 10 months before it was recaptured by Syrian government forces in March.

But the jihadist group launched an offensive earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Russian-backed Syrian government forces are closing in on the remaining rebel-held area of the city of Aleppo.

Civilians are said to be streaming out of the city in large numbers.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking after a meeting in Paris of governments that back the Syrian opposition, urged Syria and Russia to "show a little grace" as they neared their objective.

Lightning offensive

Syrian government forces were backed by the Russian military when they recaptured Palmyra and its famed ancient Roman ruins from IS earlier this year.

The two militaries have since turned their attention to fighting local opposition forces in Aleppo and Damascus, Associated Press reports.

The activist-run Palmyra Co-ordination Collective said IS militants had seized the city's military warehouse and its northern and western districts after taking government positions, oilfields and strategic heights in the surrounding countryside in a three-day campaign.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS fighters had reached the city's hospital and its strategically located wheat silos.

"ISIS entered Palmyra on Saturday and now occupies its north-west," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"There is also fighting with the army in the city centre," he added.

In other developments:

Turkish-backed forces have entered the ISIS-held town of al-Bab in northern Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory says
The US announces it is sending 200 more military personnel to help the fight against ISIS in their Syrian "capital" of Raqqa

ISIS destroyed a number of monuments and beheaded the archaeological director during its 10-month occupation of the Unesco World Heritage site and the adjacent city of Tadmur.

Two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers were left in ruins.

The jihadist group, which has also demolished several pre-Islamic sites in neighbouring Iraq, believes that such structures are idolatrous.

While some treasured monuments were destroyed, much of the historic site was left undamaged.

The city was reclaimed with the support of air strikes by the Russian air force.

ISIS subsequently lost large amounts of territory across Syria and

Link to Article - Photo - Video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38275905

Islamic State back in Unesco world heritage city of Palmyra after surprise assault

Islamic State has fought its way back into the Unesco world heritage city of Palmyra, in a surprise attack on the beleaguered Syrian army.

Residents were reported to be fleeing after militants stormed the north west of the city in a lightning assault which caught the regime off guard.

More than 50 troops have been killed since the advance started on Thursday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"Isil entered Palmyra on Saturday and now occupies its northwest. There is also fighting with the army in the city centre," said its director Rami Abdel Rahman.

In the last 48 hours Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has managed to take over grain silos and control of some oil and gas fields around Palmyra in the province of Homs.

The Syrian regime controls most of Homs but its troops are regularly attacked by Isil fighters notably when they are in isolated areas, including in oil fields which are difficult to protect.

However, this is the first such attempt by Isil to take the city back.

The assault on Palmyra, which is home to some of the most extensive ruins from the Roman empire, is a major symbolic gain for Isil and a major embarrassment for the Syrian government.

Only nine months ago its troops, helped by Russian air strikes, recaptured Palmyra from the jihadist group, which stormed the ancient desert city in May 2015.

Russia built a base near the archaeological ruins, where hundreds of soldiers had been stationed.

However, local sources told the Sunday Telegraph that the Russians, and most of the Syrian troops, had left Palmyra a few days ago to help with the battle for Aleppo 300 miles north.

The Syrian regime had not foreseen the assault and as fighting intensified yesterday they were forced to call in reinforcements from Aleppo, where they are on the cusp of a major victory against the rebels.

In the 10 months it was under the Islamists’ control, Isil destroyed Palmyra’s ancient temples of Baal Shamin and Bel and systematically plundered its relics.

The jihadists regularly tortured and executed people in the Roman amphitheatre in front of large crowds. They beheaded the city’s 85-year-old director of antiquities after he refused to tell them where the treasures were kept.

Most of the artefacts in Palmyra’s museum were moved in anticipation and are now being stored in secret locations around the country.

The jihadist group, which has also demolished several pre-Islamic sites in neighbouring Iraq, believes that such structures are idolatrous.

While some treasured monuments were destroyed, much of the historic site was left undamaged however.

As they retreated jihadist group planted hundreds of mines around the city, which took several months to clear.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12 ... -surprise/

A look at Palmyra - the historic Syrian city retaken by ISIS

A look at Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Islamic State fighters retook Sunday from Syrian troops in a major advance after a year of setbacks in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

LOCATION

A desert oasis surrounded by palm trees in central Syria, Palmyra is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country's east and neighboring Iraq. Located 155 miles (215 kilometers) east of Damascus, the city was once home to 65,000 people before the Syrian civil war began. The Islamic State group captured the city in May 2015 and held it until May 2016, when they were forced out by a Syrian and Russian military campaign. However, most Palmyra residents did not return after it was retaken by the government. Activists estimated the city is now home to a few hundred families.

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE

A UNESCO world heritage site, Palmyra boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. Syrians affectionately refer to it as the "Bride of the Desert."

Palmyra was the capital of an Arab client state of the Roman Empire that briefly rebelled and carved out its own kingdom in the 3rd Century, led by Queen Zenobia. Before the war, it was Syria's top tourist attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year.

Palmyra was first mentioned in the archives of Mari in the 2nd millennium B.C., according to UNICEF's website. The town was the hub of a network of caravan trails that carried silks and spices from eastern Asia to the Mediterranean.

Palmyra became a prosperous region during the Hellenistic period and later became part of the Roman Empire. But its rebellious Queen Zenobia challenged Rome's authority. The city was plundered in A.D. 272 after she was captured during a long siege.

In more recent times, Palmyra has had darker associations for Syrians. It was home to the Tadmur prison, a notorious facility where thousands of opponents of President Bashar Assad's government were reportedly tortured. IS demolished the prison when it first controlled the city.

DESTRUCTION

Last year, IS destroyed the Temple of Bel, which dated back to A.D. 32, and the Temple of Baalshamin, a structure of stone blocks several stories high fronted by six towering columns. The militants also blew up the Arch of Triumph, which had been built under the Roman emperor Septimius Severus between A.D. 193 and A.D. 211. Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria's head of the Antiquities and Museums Department based in Damascus, said despite the destruction, some 80 percent of the ancient ruins remained intact.

The extremists have destroyed ancient sites across their self-styled Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq, viewing them as monuments to idolatry. In August, IS militants beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, an 81-year-old antiquities scholar who had devoted his life to studying Palmyra. His body was later hung from a Roman column.

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

Over the last year, IS has suffered a string of defeats in both Syria and Iraq, losing several towns and cities it had captured in 2014. It is now under attack in Mosul, the last major urban center it controls in Iraq. A Kurdish-led Syrian force, backed by the U.S., is also pushing toward Raqqa, the group's de-facto capital in Syria, from the north. Meanwhile, Turkey is backing Syrian opposition fighters who have reached the outskirts of al-Bab, the IS stronghold in northern Syria.

In going for Palmyra, IS picked a soft target to demonstrate that despite its battlefield losses, it retains the ability to carry out large attacks.

With its losses in Iraq and elsewhere in Syria, the militants are eyeing new terrain. Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi, a native of the city who runs Palmyra News Network, said they chose Palmyra for its desert terrain linked to Iraq's and its surrounding oil and gas fields. It is also steering away from Syria's north, where the various anti-forces have focused their fight.

The extremist group also appeared to be taking advantage of the Syrian and Russian preoccupation with Aleppo, timing its attack to coincide with a massive government offensive to capture the last remaining opposition-held neighborhoods in the northern city.

Link to Full Article - Photos:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/art ... en-IS.html

Palmyra: ISIS retakes ancient Syrian city

The Islamic State (IS) group has retaken the Syrian city of Palmyra, hours after Russian air strikes appeared to have driven it back.

The governor of Homs province, Talal Barazi, said government forces were now regrouping outside the ancient city, preparing to launch a fresh assault.

IS held the city from May 2015 until it was forced out in March this year.

Correspondents say IS appears to have taken advantage of the government's focus on Aleppo, further north.

Mr Barazi confirmed the withdrawal from Palmyra but insisted "the army is using all means to prevent the terrorists from staying".

Activists in the city said militants were going door to door looking for any remaining forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

ISIS re-entered the city and its nearby ancient ruins - a Unesco World Heritage site - on Saturday, after launching an offensive earlier in the week.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday morning that "intense" bombing from Russian planes had forced ISIS to withdraw to the orchards on the city's outskirts.

The Russian defence ministry said it had carried out 64 strikes during the operation, and claimed to have killed more than 300 militants.

The Syrian army has also sent reinforcements to the city, reportedly diverting troops from Aleppo.

The observatory later reported that militants had again fought their way into the town, forcing government forces to retreat to the south.

Reports said ISIS militants had attacked with suicide car bombs and artillery.

Palmyra is seen as strategic for ISIS because it lies close to oilfields.

ISIS destroyed a number of monuments and beheaded the archaeological director during its 10-month occupation of the site and the adjacent city of Tadmur.

Two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers were left in ruins.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, a Syrian official for antiquities, said the contents of Palmyra's museum had been transferred to Damascus but he feared for the safety of the ancient ruins.

"I fear they will be more vengeful," he told the Associated Press.

The jihadist group, which has also demolished several pre-Islamic sites in neighbouring Iraq, believes that such structures are idolatrous.

The latest battle in Palmyra happened as the Syrian army closed in on the remaining rebel-held area of the city of Aleppo.

Rebel forces said on Saturday that they had halted the advance of government forces in the pockets they still control in Aleppo.

One rebel commander said a reason for the slowed government advance could be the redeployment of troops to Palmyra.

However, the Syrian government has been continuously advancing on the rebel areas, backed by Russian air support, and now reportedly controls 93% of the city.

A rebel official told Reuters news agency that his forces faced "death or surrender" as their area of control continued to shrink.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called on the Syrian government and the Russian military to "show a little grace" as they mopped up the remaining rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

US and Russian officials are continuing talks in Geneva over the possible evacuation of civilians and rebel fighters from Aleppo, but analysts say an agreement looks unlikely.

Link to Photo - Videos:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38280283

ISIS has destroyed part of the famous Palmyra amphitheatre



Militants from the Islamic State group have destroyed part of the Roman amphitheatre in the ancient city of Palmyra.

Syria's antiquities chief said the tetrapylon - a group of four pillared structures which were mainly modern replicas - have also been ruined.

The jihadists recaptured the Unesco-listed archaeological site in December from government troops.

ISIS destroyed other monuments after it first seized Palmyra in May 2015.

The group held the site and nearby city known locally as Tadmur for 10 months.

It was forced out by a Russian-backed government offensive in March 2016, but regained control while pro-government forces where focused on battling for the city of Aleppo late last year.

Maamoun Abdulkarim told the Associated Press that reports of the destruction first trickled out of Palmyra late in December, and then satellite images which became available late on Thursday confirmed the destruction

The US-based American Schools of Oriental Research posted images on n its Facebook page which appear to show the towering portico at the back of the amphitheatre stage badly damaged.

It said only two of the tetrapylon's columns remain, and the monument appeared to have been intentionally destroyed using explosives.

Only one of the structure's columns is original, as the others were rebuilt in 1963.

On Thursday, a monitoring group said IS militants had beheaded four people and shot eight others dead outside a museum close to the archaeological site.

The militants have previously carried out killings in the Roman amphitheatre.

When they first held the archaeological site, they blew up temples, burial towers and the Arch of Triumph, believing shrines and statues to be idolatrous.

They also destroyed the Temple of Bel - the great sanctuary of the Palmyrene gods - which had been one of the most important religious buildings of the 1st Century AD in the East

Link to Article - Photos - Videos:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38689131

Bachar was so busy to attack and destroy Aleppo that he let Palmyra and Deir ez Zor without defense.

The coalition and the world at large, is playing a dangerous game with the Islamic State - almost akin to a children's game

First ISIS move into an area causing death and destruction

Next anti-ISIS forces push ISIS out - often causing more death and destruction than that originally caused by ISIS

Then ISIS move back into the area causing a third wave of death and destruction

But by then the coalition and other word armies are busy killing and destroying other parts of Syria

A hideous game of death and destruction

KILL DESTROY REPEAT

NONE of the groups/countries involved in this vicious circle actually care about the lives or property they are destroying

The UN has NOT protected Palmyra

The coalition has NOT protected Palmyra

The world has NOT protected Palmyra

How could Coalition "protected" Palmyra ? Bombed ISIS and the City ? Bachar hold Palmyra but he did not call any foreign troops to rescue it, except Iranian militias. But they don't care of Palmyra.

The fact is that Bachar lost most of Syrian territory and could never take it again, just kept some strongholds. Not Palmyra, obviously.

Syrian forces 'enter' ISIS held town AGAIN

The sick game of KILL DESTROY REPEAT continues

Syrian government forces have entered the ancient city of Palmyra, pushing back militants from so-called Islamic State (ISIS), activists say.

The troops and their allies, backed by Russian air strikes, have reportedly seized part of a neighbourhood in the west of the city.

The jihadists recaptured the Unesco-listed archaeological site in December from government forces.

Parts of the ancient city have been destroyed by the militants.

There were clashes and heavy shelling across the historic city as the offensive unfolded, the UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A media unit run by the allied Lebanese Hezbollah movement said earlier that the pro-government forces had reached the citadel, which sits on a hill overlooking the famous Roman-era ruins.

The Syrian government troops also seized a strategic area known as the "Palmyra triangle", the official Sana news agency reported.

ISIS held the ruins and the nearby city, known locally as Tadmur, for 10 months after seizing it for the first time in May 2015. It blew up temples, burial towers and the Arch of Triumph, believing shrines and statues to be idolatrous.

They also destroyed the Temple of Bel - the great sanctuary of the Palmyrene gods - which had been one of the most important religious buildings of the 1st Century AD in the East.

Ancient city of Palmyra

Unesco World Heritage site

Site contains monumental ruins of great city, once one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world

Art and architecture, from the 1st and 2nd centuries, combine Greco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences

More than 1,000 columns, a Roman aqueduct and a formidable necropolis of more than 500 tombs made up the archaeological site

More than 150,000 tourists visited Palmyra every year before the Syrian conflict

The militants were then forced out by a Russian-backed government offensive in March 2016, but regained control while pro-government forces where focused on battling for the city of Aleppo late last year.

In January, satellite images revealed that the group destroyed the tetrapylon - a group of four pillared structures which were mainly modern replicas - and part of the Roman Theatre.

Meanwhile, the US said positions held by the their allies of the Syrian Arab Coalition were bombed by Russian and Syrian aircraft near the ISIS-held town of al-Bab, in northern Syria.

"I believe they thought were held by ISIS, yet they were actually - on the ground - were some of our Syrian Arab coalition forces," Lt Gen Stephen Townsend told reporters, using an acronym for ISIS.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-39133343

IS leaves trail of destruction in Syria's Palmyra

The BBC's Lyse Doucet says the trail of destruction left by Islamic State militants in Palmyra extends beyond the ancient Syrian city's famous Roman-era ruins.

She finds the city council building in utter ruin and the basement of a deserted building filled with a paperwork detailing the jihadist group's brutal rule.



Direct Link to Video:

https://youtu.be/dD_yeu21ITQ

Question:

WHY

was Palmyra deserted by the coalition armies and left to fall back into the hands of the Islamic State

?