Some of the most beautiful and well-preserved ruins of antiquity face destruction as forces loyal to Assad withdraw to western strongholds

The historic city of Palmyra has fallen almost entirely under the control of Islamic State, after forces loyal to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, collapsed under a seven-day siege that has left the magnificent ruins there exposed to near-certain destruction by the terror group.

Activists from the city and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said most of Palmyra fell on Wednesday shortly after the Assad regime evacuated most of its civilians and began withdrawing towards regime strongholds in the west.

“The Islamic State organisation has now established almost complete control over the area from Palmyra to the Syrian-Iraqi border and onwards to the Syrian-Jordanian frontier,” said SOHR’s director, Rami Abdul Rahman.



The ancient city, once a Silk Road hub and one of the cultural centres of the ancient world that occupies mythological status in Syria, is home to some of the most beautiful and well-preserved ruins of antiquity, including the Temple of Bel, built in the first century.

How the ancient city of Palmyra looked before the fighting – in pictures Read more

Isis considers the preservation of such historical ruins a form of idolatry and has destroyed temples and historic artefacts, as well as ancient Assyrian sites in Nineveh in Iraq, after conquering the province in a lightning offensive last year.

The group has profited from looting historic treasures, in addition to scoring propaganda victories by the wanton destruction of archaeological sites, and Palmyra is likely to face a similar fate now.

The loss of the city and its surrounding gas fields, which supply electricity to much of the Assad regime’s strongholds in western Syria, is another strategic defeat that could expose Homs and Damascus to the terror group’s advances.



Isis also appeared to have taken control of major facilities in and around the city, including the legendary military prison of Tadmur, the modern name for Palmyra, a symbol of state repression for decades.

The terror group advanced into the city after seizing its northern districts earlier in the day, backed by suicide bombers and artillery.



Activists said the regime had begun launching retaliatory air strikes on the city and much of it fell into darkness with widespread electricity outages.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Amateur footage purports to show crowd burning Bashar al-Assad portrait in Palmyra

The loss of Palmyra and the surrounding gas fields, al-Hail and Arak, is a major strategic defeat for the Assad regime. The fields supply much of the electricity in the regime’s western strongholds, allowing the militant group to potentially profit from selling power back to Assad.

It also severs key supply lines to embattled regime forces in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, where they are also fighting a persistent Isis encroachment. In addition, it opens the road to a possible offensive by the militants on Homs and Damascus, key regime strongholds.

The fall of Palmyra also raises questions about the fighting capability and cohesion of Assad’s remaining troops and allied militias, whose rapid collapse surprised observers, given their close proximity to supply lines and the strategic importance of the city.

The regime is stretched thin after a string of losses to rebels in Idlib in the north, who are backed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but residents had expected Assad’s forces to withstand the siege for longer. Instead, they appear to be retrenching in the country’s west, cutting their losses in the face of advances by both Isis and the opposition.

“The regime didn’t seem to put up a sustained fight against the Isis attack on Palmyra, which is in and of itself concerning,” said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center and author of Profiling the Islamic State. “Increasingly over the last several months, a new regime strategy has been emerging whereby only the most strategically critical locations and regions receive total support and thus put up the most resistance against attack.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The historic city of Palmyra has fallen almost entirely under the control of ISIS Photograph: SKY News

Palmyra is the second city to be seized by Isis in less than a week, after the militants routed Iraqi security forces in Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province, highlighting the group’s resilience in the face of a US-led coalition air campaign and the limits of its strategy.

“Far from being degraded, Isis is still advancing in important areas – capturing Ramadi and Palmyra in the same week speaks volumes as to the group’s continued capabilities,” said Lister.

The director general of the UN’s cultural agency called for an immediate end to hostilities in the Unesco world heritage site and for the protection of cultural heritage from direct targeting.

“I am deeply concerned by the situation at the site of Palmyra. The fighting is putting at risk one of the most significant sites in the Middle East, and its civilian population,” said Irina Bokova.

“I reiterate my appeal for an immediate cessation of hostilities at the site. I further call on the international community to do everything in its power to protect the affected civilian population and safeguard the unique cultural heritage of Palmyra.”

However, Isis has often cherished its destruction of cultural artefacts, releasing long, well-produced videos of their destruction of objects in the Mosul Museum and their detonation and bulldozing of much of the ancient fortress city of Hatra in Iraq.

Experts say the group benefits from its destruction of cultural heritage because it shows the militants can act with impunity and exposes the impotence of the international community in the face of the provocations.

Syria’s antiquities chief, Mamoun Abdulkarim, told AFP that hundreds of statues and artefacts from Palmyra’s museum had been transferred out of the city but many others, including massive tombs, could not be moved. Many of the city’s monumental ruins are too heavy to transport or consist of ancient buildings and architecture.