A partial view of the ancient oasis city of Palmyra.(Photo: Joseph Eid, AFP/Getty Images)
Islamic State extremists have overrun the ancient ruins of Palmyra after taking full control of the Syrian town, activists said Thursday.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the extremists took control of the archaeological site to the southwest of the city soon after midnight Wednesday.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, captured Palmyra the same day, after seizing the Iraqi city of Ramadi over the weekend.
USA TODAY
Islamic State seizes ancient town of Palmyra in Syria
Bebars al-Talawy, an activist in the central province of Homs, said ISIL now controls the ruins at the UNESCO world heritage site famous for its 2,000-year-old Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts.
Both activists said Thursday that ISIL has not damaged the ruins so far.
Syrian state television said late Wednesday that pro-government forces had withdrawn from Palmyra after evacuating most civilians there, Reuters reported.
The fall of the town after a week of fighting was an enormous loss to the government, not just due to its historic significance, but because it opens the way for ISIL to advance to key government-held areas, including Damascus and the Syrian coast to the south and southwest, and the contested eastern city of Deir el-Zour.
USA TODAY
Voices: Priceless ancient city threatened by Islamic State
On Thursday, Syria's director of museums and antiquities , Ma'amoun Abdul-Kareem, told the state news agency SANA that ISIL's "terrorist attack" on Palmyra was to take "revenge on the Syrian society and civilization."
He said hundreds of statues were rescued when the Culture Ministry moved them to safety, but expressed concern over what would happen to the monuments and temples in Palmyra, the news agency reported.
ISIL has demolished ancient sites that pre-date Islam in neighboring Iraq. Last month, a video emerged of militants destroying the ancient city of Nimrud, near the country's second largest city of Mosul, using drills, sledgehammers and a bulldozer to destroy ancient stone reliefs and walls, before setting off huge explosions.
A previous video posted on social media showed militants using sledgehammers to knock over artifacts at the Mosul museum and destroying ancient Nineveh gates.
Contributing: Associated Press
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