IS militants purge Palmyra of Assad loyalists

[Sally]

The unfortunate people in Palmyra are probably scared witless about what will happen to them.


IS militants purge Palmyra of Assad loyalists


By SARAH EL DEEB and BASSEM MROUE

WORLD MAY. 23, 2015 - 07:00AM JST ( 6 )

This picture released on Thursday, May 21, 2015 by the website of Islamic State militants, shows a bunker with a heavy machine gun mounted on its top at Palmyra air base that was captured by the Islamic State militants after a battle with the Syrian government forces in Palmyra, Syria. Activist and officials say members of the Islamic State group are conducting search operations in the ancient town of Palmyra where they have detained and killed dozens of people. (The website of Islamic State militants via AP)
BEIRUT —

Islamic State group militants hunted down Syrian government troops and loyalists in the newly captured town of Palmyra, shooting or beheading them in public as a warning, and imposing their strict interpretation of Islam, activists said Friday.

The purge, which relied mostly on informants, was aimed at solidifying the extremists’ grip on the strategic town that was overrun Wednesday by IS fighters.

It also was part of a campaign to win the support of President Bashar Assad’s opponents, who have suffered from a government crackdown in the town and surrounding province in the last four years of Syria’s civil war.

The strategy included promises to fix the electricity and water grids — after Palmyra is cleared of regime loyalists, according to an activist in the historic town. The man is known in the activist community by the nom de guerre of Omar Hamza because he fears for his security.

Continue reading at:

IS militants purge Palmyra of Assad loyalists Japan Today Japan News and Discussion

 

[waltky]

Syria tryin' to take back Palmyra from ISIS...

Syria launches deadly air raids on ISIS Palmyra, report says
Sep 19, 2015, Syrian regime aircraft Friday carried out at least 25 strikes on jihadist-controlled Palmyra, the country's famed ancient city, with eight civilians among the dead, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raids killed "at least eight civilians and many members" of the Islamic State jihadist group. The aerial barrage was "one of the strongest attacks by Syrian warplanes against positions in Palmyra since ISIS captured it" on May 21, according to observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. He said most residents had fled in the wake of the ISIS takeover, leaving only a few of the original inhabitants and the families of militants. The jihadists have blown up the ancient Temple of Bel and several famed tower tombs in Palmyra, a Unesco-listed world heritage site.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have fought hard to edge closer to the historic town. "In the past two days, the regime has intensified its air raids against areas controlled by the Islamic State group," Abdel Rahman said. On Thursday, government air strikes on Raqa city, ISIS's de facto capital of a "caliphate" it has declared straddling Syria and Iraq, killed 18 people, including jihadists and civilians.

Elsewhere in Syria, the Army of Conquest, an alliance of Islamist and jihadist groups, intensified its assault on the last two regime-held villages in the northwest province of Idlib. "Five suicide bombers from al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front and other Islamist groups set off car bombs outside Fuaa and Kafraya," said Abdel Rahman. He said the blasts targeted positions held by the National Defence Forces, a local pro-Assad militia. "There are fierce clashes around Fuaa now, and regime air raids are targeting the Army of Conquest's positions around the village," Abdel Rahman added.

The Army of Conquest also fired a barrage of more than 250 rockets and shells into the two villages, most of whose residents are Shias. Since its capture of most of Idlib province, the Army of Conquest has surrounded and began to heavily shell Fuaa and Kafraya. Fuaa, Kafraya and the rebel stronghold of Zabadani in Damascus province were at the centre of two failed attempts last month to secure broad ceasefire deals.

Syria launches deadly air raids on ISIS Palmyra, report says - The Times of India

 

[waltky]

Major victory against ISIS...

Syrian forces recapture ancient city of Palmyra from IS
Mar 27,`16 -- Syrian government forces recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra on Sunday, scoring an important victory over Islamic State fighters who waged a 10-month reign of terror there and dealing the group its first major defeat since an international agreement to battle terrorism in the fractured nation took effect last year.

The city known to Syrians as the "Bride of the Desert" is famous for its 2,000-year-old ruins that once drew tens of thousands of visitors each year before IS destroyed many of the monuments. The extent of the destruction remained unclear. Initial footage on Syrian TV showed widespread rubble and shattered statues. But Palmyra's grand colonnades appeared to be in relatively good condition. The government forces were supported by Lebanese militias and Russian air power. The Islamic State now faces pressure on several fronts as Kurdish ground forces advance on its territory in Syria's north and government forces have a new path to its de facto capital, Raqqa, and the contested eastern city of Deir el-Zour.

International airstrikes have pounded IS territory, killing two top leaders in recent weeks, according to the Pentagon. Those strikes have also inflicted dozens of civilian casualties. In Iraq, government forces backed by the U.S. and Iran are preparing a ground offensive to retake the country's second largest city, Mosul. The fall of Palmyra comes a month after a partial cease-fire in Syria's civil war came into force. The truce was sponsored by the United States and Russia in part to allow the government and international community to focus on Al-Qaeda styled militants, among them the IS group. In comments reported on state TV, President Bashar Assad described the Palmyra operation as a "significant achievement" offering "new evidence of the effectiveness of the strategy espoused by the Syrian army and its allies in the war against terrorism."

IS drove government forces from Palmyra in a matter of days last May and later demolished some of its best-known monuments, including two large temples dating back more than 1,800 years and a Roman triumphal archway. State TV showed the rubble left over from the destruction of the Temple of Bel as well as the damaged archway, the supports of which were still standing. It said a statue of Zenobia, the third century queen who ruled an independent state from Palmyra and figures strongly in Syrian lore, was missing. Artifacts inside the city's museum also appeared heavily damaged on state TV. A sculpture of the Greek goddess Athena was decapitated, and the museum's basement appeared to have been dynamited, the hall littered with broken statues.

Still, state media reported that a lion statue dating back to the second century, previously thought to have been destroyed by IS militants, was found in a damaged but recoverable condition. Extremists beheaded the archaeological site's 81-year-old director, Riad al-Asaad, in August after he reportedly refused to divulge where authorities had hidden treasures before the group swept in. Militants viewed the ruins as monuments to idolatry. IS also demolished Palmyra's infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of government opponents were reportedly tortured.

MORE

 

[montelatici]

The Syrian Arab Army Retakes Palmyra!!!!!

Monuments to be rebuilt.

Putin congratulates Assad on retaking Palmyr

• 
  |
• Updated: Mar 27, 2016 21:46 IST

"Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, congratulating him on his forces retaking Palmyra, the Kremlin said.

The recapture of the ancient city represents a major victory over the Islamic State group, whose fighters had destroyed many monuments at the UNESCO world heritage site since they overran it in May last year."

Putin congratulates Assad on retaking Palmyra

Historic Syrian Town Retaken From IS

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MARCH 27, 2016, 6:00 A.M. E.D.T.

BEIRUT — A look at Palmyra, the archaeological gem that Syrian troops took back from Islamic State fighters.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/03/27/world/middleeast/ap-ml-syria-palmyra-glance.html?_r=0

 

[waltky]

ISIS devastation in Palmyra museum...

Grim new details of IS destruction in Syria's Palmyra museum
Apr 16,`16 -- The first foreign experts who visited the museum in Palmyra after it was taken over from Islamic State militants said they spent a week collecting fragments of priceless broken sculptures from the museum grounds and preparing them for transportation to Damascus in a rescue mission they hope will help salvage most of its contents.

Back in the Syrian capital Saturday, they offered grim new details about the extent of the destruction caused by the extremists during their 10-month stay in the ancient town. The museum was trashed and some of its best-known artifacts and statues were smashed by the militants, who cut off the heads and hands of statues and demolished others before being driven out last month. Bartosz Markowski, from the Polish Archaeological Center at the University of Warsaw, told The Associated Press that most of the 200 objects which were exhibited on the ground floor of the Palmyra museum were destroyed, many of them apparently with hard tools like hammers. Many artifacts have been stolen, he added, thought it was not possible to know how many.

He and his colleagues were the first specialists to visit Palmyra after it was taken over by the Syrian army, and spent a week working and assessing the damage. "We collected everything we could. The fragments were spread around the whole museum among broken glass and furniture ... It is a catastrophe," he said, speaking to the AP in the garden of the National Museum in Damascus. During their rule of Palmyra, the extremists demolished some of the most famous Roman-era monuments that stand just outside the town, including two large temples dating back more than 1,800 years and a Roman triumphal archway, filming the destruction themselves for the world to see. The sprawling outdoor site, a UNESCO world heritage site, as well as the museum were among Syria's main tourist attractions before the civil war.

Tthe Lion of Al-Lat statue outside the museum with some broken pieces lying next to it at the entrance of the museum in the town of Palmyra in the central Homs province, Syria. Polish experts back from assessing damage at the museum in the Syrian town of Palmyra offer grim new details about the extent of the destruction caused by the Islamic State group. The museum was trashed and some of its best-known artifacts and statues were smashed by the extremists during the 10 months they controlled the town, before being driven out last month.​

Among the best-known statues destroyed was the famous Lion of Allat, a 2000-year-old statue which previously greeted visitors and tourists outside the Palmyra museum. The statue, which used to adorn the temple of Allat, a pre-Islamic goddess in Palmyra, was defaced by IS militants and knocked over by bulldozers. On a visit to Palmyra on Thursday, The Associated Press saw the statue lying outside the museum building with its face cut and some of its broken pieces lying next to it. "Fortunately we collected most of the fragments and I hope it can be reconstructed very soon," said Markowski, who in 2005 took part in a Polish archaeological mission that did renovation work on the statue.

MORE

 

[irosie91]

The Baathist pigs are claiming that being a PIG is nice than being an Isis dog