Syria: militants captured an Islamic state Palmyra – Onet.pl

 
  Photo: AFP
 
 
  Palmira is a city of hard-to revaluation of the cultural
 
 
 

Located in the region of activists could not to say how close to the ancient runes are currently Islamists, seen as a city of soldiers fleeing the Syrian forces.

– I’m scared – said the director of the Department of Antiquities and Museums Maamun Syrian Abdul Karim. – For IS a struggle visual communication, will want to be sure odtrąbić victory in the war against civilization, destroying the remains of the ancient city, in the list of UNESCO cultural heritage monuments – he added.

According to him, small groups of soldiers and pro-government militias are still in the city and its surroundings. Earlier, hundreds of statues succeeded in a safe place. With a population of the town was evacuated. On-site remained, however, museum and monuments, which, due to the considerable size could not move.

Significant victory for the Islamists

Palmira is famous for, among others, with colonnaded porticoes and sepulchral sculptures, and is listed on the UNESCO list since 1980. In 2013. Was pulled on the list of endangered monuments, which include in Syria Aleppo, Bosra, Damascus and ancient cities in the north.

Winning Palmyra – just a few days after taking control the Ramadi in western Iraq – is a significant victory for the Islamists. Demonstrates the ability of the IS to carry out effectively fighting on several fronts simultaneously and buried their hopes for the imminent collapse after recent failures of this group in Iraq’s Tikrit and elsewhere – says the agency AP.

Severe loss el-Assad

For the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad is also a painful loss – Palmira is not only a city of hard-to revaluation of culture, but also the gateway to the areas controlled by government forces, including Damascus, the coast of the south and south-west of the country and the city of Deir az-Zor in the east. In the vicinity of Palmyra it is also important oil and gas fields.

In the face of progress Sunni extremists IS France announced on 2 June international meeting in Paris, in order to encompass “the whole situation” in Iraq and Syria, with the participation of US Secretary of State John Kerry.