Activists: Islamic State seizes more than half of Syria

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[h=4]Activists: Islamic State seizes more than half of Syria[/h]Islamic State extremists have seized more than half of Syria after taking full control of the town of Palmyra and its ancient ruins, activists said Thursday.

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Islamic State fighters have reportedly seized about a third of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra after heavy fighting against the military and allied combatants. Wochit


A partial view of the ancient oasis city of Palmyra.(Photo: Joseph Eid, AFP/Getty Images)


Islamic State extremists have seized more than half of Syria after taking full control of the town of Palmyra and its ancient ruins, activists said Thursday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the extremists had seized more than 36,000 square miles of the country, and had also taken control of "the vast majority" of its gas and oil fields.
Rami Abdurrahman, of the group, said the extremists took control of the archaeological site to the southwest of Palmyra early Thursday. The United Nations describes the site as "one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world."
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The Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, captured the town Wednesday, after seizing the Iraqi city of Ramadi over the weekend.
A video posted online purported to show militants setting a giant poster of President Bashar Assad alight inside the prison in Palmyra and cheering. The video and its purported location could not be independently verified.
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.
Al-Talawy said the government had recently transferred thousands of inmates from the town's prison to a jail near the capital of Damascus, but said that ISIL extremists had freed some of the prisoners who remained inside.
Syrian state television said late Wednesday that pro-government forces had withdrawn from Palmyra after evacuating most civilians there, Reuters reported.
Homs govenor Talal Barazi said many of Palmyra's residents were fleeing toward the city of Homs and Damascus, and said that that the Syrian army was targeting ISIL reinforcements from outside the town.
"We have not received any news about (the archaeological site's) destruction," he said. "We hope that there will be no massacres in the city or damage to the ruins."
USA TODAY
Islamic State seizes ancient town of Palmyra in Syria




The fall of the town — which is said to have a population of around 65,000 — 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.
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.
USA TODAY
U.S. says Iraqi military regrouping to retake Ramadi




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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