international
Islamic State Takes Control Of Ancient City
Of Palmyra
MAY 20, 2015 7:33 PM ET
KRISHNADEV CALAMUR
Smoke rises after a Syrian Rocket
launcher shell on Islamic State positions in the ancient oasis city of Palmyra,
about 215 kilometers northeast of Damascus on Tuesday. News reports say the
Islamic State has taken control of the city. EPA /Landov
The self-declared Islamic State
has taken control of Palmyra ,
an ancient city that's on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites.
Last week, UNESCO appealed to Syria 's warring factions to "make every
effort to prevent" Palmyra 's
destruction. On Wednesday, the organization's head called for a cessation of
hostilities.
"I am deeply concerned by
the situation at the site of Palmyra ,"
Director-General Irina Bokova said. "The fighting is putting at risk one
of the most significant sites in the Middle East, and its civilian
population."
Here's how UNESCO describes Palmyra :
"An oasis in the Syrian
desert, north-east of Damascus , Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a
great city that was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient
world. From the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra , standing at the
crossroads of several civilizations, married Graeco-Roman techniques with local
traditions and Persian influences."
The Islamic State has destroyed
other pre-Islamic treasures in areas it controls, and it is feared it might do
the same in Palmyra .
Control of Palmyra is more than just symbolic. The New
York Times notes:
"But for the fighters on the
ground, the city of 50,000 people is significant because it sits among gas
fields and astride a network of roads across the country's central desert. Palmyra 's vast
unexcavated antiquities could also provide significant revenue through illegal
trafficking.
"Control of Palmyra
gives the Islamic State command of roads leading from its strongholds in
eastern Syria to Damascus and the other major cities of the populated west,
as well as new links to western Iraq ,
the other half of its self-declared caliphate."
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