Published: 12:00 AM, 28 March 2016
Assad hails recapture of Palmyra from IS
Islamic State fighters have withdrawn from Palmyra in a defeat hailed by the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as a success for his government forces and allies. The Isis retreat came after an assault from Syrian government forces backed by Russian airstrikes, Syrian state media and activist monitoring groups said on Sunday. "The liberation of the historic city of Palmyra today is an important achievement and another indication of the success of the strategy pursued by the Syrian army and its allies in the war against terrorism," state television quoted Assad as telling a visiting French delegation. The capture of the modern city and its celebrated ancient ruins follows a three-week campaign and strategically leaves exposed the approaches to the Isis heartlands of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa to the east, to where many fighters retreated. Isis has come under mounting pressure on several fronts in Iraq and Syria in recent months.
Syrian television quoted a military source saying the army and its militia allies took "complete control over the city of Palmyra". A state TV reporter spoke live from inside Palmyra, showing troops in the centre and some of the nearby buildings reduced to rubble. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said there was still gunfire in the eastern part of the city on Sunday morning but the bulk of the Isis force had retreated. The SOHR's director, Rami Abdulrahman, said 400 Isis fighters died in the battle, which he described as the biggest single defeat for the group since it declared a caliphate in areas of Syria and Iraq under its control in 2014. Moscow announced earlier this month that it would begin drawing down its forces in Syria but would continue to target Isis and other extremist groups. Russia's defense minister said on Saturday that Russian jets had carried out 40 air sorties near Palmyra in a 24-hour period, hitting 158 targets and killing more than 100 militants.
Isis drove Syrian government forces from Palmyra in a matter of days last May and later demolished some of the best-known monuments in the Unesco world heritage site, including two large temples dating back more than 1,800 years and a Roman triumphal archway.
Isis also demolished Palmyra's infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of government opponents were reportedly tortured. The Syrian culture minister, Issam Khalil, hailed the recapture of Palmyra as a "victory for humanity and right over all projects of darkness". As Syria's top archaeologist prepared to see how much of the ancient city survived or could be salvaged, he vowed that Palmyra's famous temples would rise again from the desert sands. "We will not leave the temples destroyed," Maamoun Abdelkarim, Syria's director of antiquities, said.
"We have to send a message against terrorism that we are united in protecting our heritage. We will never accept that the children of Syria and the world visit the site of Baalshamin and Bel and the victory arch while they are lying in ruins on the ground. We will rebuild them."
Isis blew up many of the city's most revered buildings and murdered 82-year-old Khaled al-Asaad, the senior scholar who had preserved and studied the city all his life, when they swept into Palmyra last May. The videotaped destruction caused archaeologists around the world to despair.
Advancing soldiers had been issued with warnings to watch out for booby-traps that could cause more damage to the site, Abdelkarim said, and archaeologists would follow in their wake to start the painstaking work of reconstructing the buildings from the rubble.
Syrian television quoted a military source saying the army and its militia allies took "complete control over the city of Palmyra". A state TV reporter spoke live from inside Palmyra, showing troops in the centre and some of the nearby buildings reduced to rubble. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said there was still gunfire in the eastern part of the city on Sunday morning but the bulk of the Isis force had retreated. The SOHR's director, Rami Abdulrahman, said 400 Isis fighters died in the battle, which he described as the biggest single defeat for the group since it declared a caliphate in areas of Syria and Iraq under its control in 2014. Moscow announced earlier this month that it would begin drawing down its forces in Syria but would continue to target Isis and other extremist groups. Russia's defense minister said on Saturday that Russian jets had carried out 40 air sorties near Palmyra in a 24-hour period, hitting 158 targets and killing more than 100 militants.
Isis drove Syrian government forces from Palmyra in a matter of days last May and later demolished some of the best-known monuments in the Unesco world heritage site, including two large temples dating back more than 1,800 years and a Roman triumphal archway.
Isis also demolished Palmyra's infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of government opponents were reportedly tortured. The Syrian culture minister, Issam Khalil, hailed the recapture of Palmyra as a "victory for humanity and right over all projects of darkness". As Syria's top archaeologist prepared to see how much of the ancient city survived or could be salvaged, he vowed that Palmyra's famous temples would rise again from the desert sands. "We will not leave the temples destroyed," Maamoun Abdelkarim, Syria's director of antiquities, said.
"We have to send a message against terrorism that we are united in protecting our heritage. We will never accept that the children of Syria and the world visit the site of Baalshamin and Bel and the victory arch while they are lying in ruins on the ground. We will rebuild them."
Isis blew up many of the city's most revered buildings and murdered 82-year-old Khaled al-Asaad, the senior scholar who had preserved and studied the city all his life, when they swept into Palmyra last May. The videotaped destruction caused archaeologists around the world to despair.
Advancing soldiers had been issued with warnings to watch out for booby-traps that could cause more damage to the site, Abdelkarim said, and archaeologists would follow in their wake to start the painstaking work of reconstructing the buildings from the rubble.
