WORLD_ Islamic State enters Palmyra as Obama rethinks Iraq strategy

THE AUSTRALIAN

Islamic State enters Palmyra as Obama rethinks Iraq strategy

AFP
May 21, 2015 12:00AM

Photo: Iraqi soldiers and Shia fighters fire at Islamic State positions in the Garma district of Anbar province. Source: AFP

Islamic State extremists overnight seized almost full control of the ancient town of Palmyra, in a blow to efforts to repel the advancing jihadists after the fall of Iraq’s Ramadi.

The London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government forces collapsed in the face of IS attacks and withdrew from the town late on Wednesday.

A media collective for Palmyra also says that IS was now in control of most of the town,as Barack Obama was poised to quicken the pace of weapons supplies and training to tribes in neighbouring Iraq. .

The jihadists, notorious for demolishing archaeological treasures since declaring a “caliphate” last year straddling Iraq and Syria, appeared to have fought their way into Palmyra on foot after breaking through in the city’s north.

It was unclear if they had reached Palmyra’s UNESCO-listed heritage site, including ancient temples and colonnaded streets, and its adjacent museum housing priceless artefacts, located in the city’s southwest.

“IS controls almost all of Palmyra” following the withdrawal of government troops from all sectors except for a prison in the east and military intelligence headquarters in the west, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

An activist originally from Palmyra, Mohamed Hassan al-Homsi, said on the Internet that “a large number of regime forces were seen gathering near the military intelligence branch and withdrawing.” Government warplanes responded by carrying out air strikes on IS positions in the city.

News of Palmyra’s fall came shortly after a State Department official said the weekend loss of Ramadi had prompted the United States to take an “extremely hard look” at its strategy to confront the extremists.

“The situation is very bad,” Syria’s antiquities chief, Mamoun Abdulkarim, said after IS had captured the city’s northern third earlier in the day.

“If only five members of IS go into the ancient buildings, they’ll destroy everything,” he added, calling for international action to save the city.

The head of the UN cultural agency, Irina Bokova, has warned that the fighting in Palmyra was “putting at risk one of the most significant sites in the Middle East”.

Hundreds of statues and artefacts from Palmyra’s museum have been transferred out of the city, according to Abdulkarim, but many others -- including massive tombs -- could not be moved.

The jihadists sparked international outrage this year when they blew up the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and smashed artefacts in the museum of Mosul, both in Iraq.

Asked if IS would be able to reach Palmyra’s ruins, a Syrian military source said “everything is possible”.

Homsi, the Palmyra activist, said the fleeing regime soldiers “headed to the military intelligence headquarters near the ruins”.

In neighbouring Iraq, fighting subsided three days after IS took control of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, just 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital.

The jihadists’ capture of the city was their most significant victory since mid-2014 when they conquered swathes of land, sparking a US-led air campaign to support Baghdad.

On Wednesday, the Anbar police chief was dismissed, after video footage emerged online from fighters in Ramadi suggesting security personnel deserted their posts at the height of the IS offensive.

The State Department official also revealed the US was sending 1,000 anti-tank missile systems to help Iraq stop “devastating” suicide car bombs.

Asking not to be identified, the official highlighted the IS tactic of ploughing huge “vehicle-born improvised explosive devices” (VBIEDs) into buildings and walls.

In Ramadi, an explosives-packed bulldozer was used to blow up the security perimeter around a government-held compound.

Around 30 vehicles such as Humvees then flowed in, 10 of which were carrying enough bomb-making materials to carry out explosions the size of the blast of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

There were “gigantic explosions that took out entire city blocks,” the official said.

“These enormous suicide VBIEDs is something that we have to help the Iraqis, and our partners in Syria, defeat.” The United States has also said it is now considering accelerating the training and equipping of tribal forces to fight IS.

Besides the more than 3,000 air strikes carried out so far, Washington has supported a deep reform of Iraq’s army and offered training to Sunni tribesmen.

But that failed to prevent the loss of Ramadi, where militias backed by US arch-foe Iran will now take the lead in any counter-attack.

During a visit to Baghdad on Wednesday, Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan stressed Tehran’s commitment to Iraqi unity but also emphasised Iran’s role in the fight against IS.

According to officials from Anbar, at least 500 people were killed in three days of fighting in Ramadi during which IS used waves of suicide car bombs.

The army’s retreat was chaotic, once again raising questions over the credibility of Iraq’s regular forces.

Tens of thousands were forced to flee their homes in the process. And on Wednesday, more than 2,000 were able to join them escape conflict-torn Anbar after the authorities opened a bridge that had been closed for three days.

AFP, AP

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