IS seizes full control of Syria’s Palmyra

The Islamic State (IS) group seized full control of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on Thursday, a monitor said, putting the world heritage site at risk of destruction.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP that regime troops had pulled back from positions in and around Palmyra, including from an army intelligence outpost, a military airport and a prison which IS captured overnight. 

The IS offensive on the ancient world heritage site of Palmyra began on 13 May, and has since left more than 350 people dead.

Mohammad, an activist originally from the modern town, told AFP that the city was suffering from water shortages and intermittent electricity.

“A large number of people from the city’s north have been displaced into other neighbourhoods. Some are sleeping in the streets,” he said. 

Activists in the town said on Wednesday that residents had been prevented from entering the government-held hospital for seven consecutive days.

On Monday, IS seized two gas fields north of Palmyra that the government had been using to generate electricity for areas under its control. 

Antiquities officials fear that IS wants to destroy Palmyra’s pre-Islamic cultural treasures, which include colonnaded streets and ancient citadels.

The city is also strategically located at the crossroads of key highways leading west to Damascus and Homs, and east to Iraq.

More to follow…

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