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ISIL advances on Syria's ancient city of Palmyra
Al Jazeera ^ | May 16, 2015 | Various

Posted on 05/16/2015 2:30:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Governor of Homs province, where city is located, says army has sent reinforcements and is bombing fighters from air.

Fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have advanced on Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, one of the Middle East's most famous UNESCO heritage sites, with fierce clashes taking place close to the city's historic citadel.

Photos circulating on social media sites on Saturday appeared to show intense clashes near the 13th century citadel of Fakhr-al-Din al-Ma'ani as ISIL fighters engaged the Syrian military.

Talal Barazi, the governor of central Homs province, where the city is located, said on Friday that the "army has sent reinforcements and it is bombing the [ISIL] positions from the air".

Palmyra, a 2,000-year-old desert oasis, is believed to be home to some 100,000 people, including displaced Syrians who fled there after their home towns were engulfed in violence.

The city is also home to the notorious Tadmor prison, where extensive human rights abuses, torture and summary executions have taken place.

Irina Bokova, the head of the UN's cultural body UNESCO, called on Syrian troops and ISIL to spare the city, saying it "represents an irreplaceable treasure for the Syrian people and the world".

"Palmyra must be saved," Bokova said at a two-day conference in Cairo on protecting the region's archaeological sites.

Bokova said it was important to work "against extremism, against this strategy of eradicating ... our collective memory."

Nicknamed "the pearl of the desert", UNESCO has described Palmyra a heritage site of "outstanding universal value".

The historical city stood on a caravan route at the crossroads of several civilisations, and its first and second century temples and colonnaded streets house a series of old and beautifully decorated tombs.

However the ancient city, which has previously been a frontline in the four-year-long Syrian conflict, has already been deeply affected by the conflict.

One of its masterpieces, the Temple of Baal, was damaged by artillery exchanges prompting UNESCO to include it in a list of World Heritage sites in danger.

ISIL, which controls large swaths of territory, has ransacked and demolished several ancient sites, including Muslim shrines, in order to eliminate what it views as heresy, whilst selling artefacts on the black market in order to finance its campaign.

At least 73 soldiers, in addition to 26 civilians, have been killed since the group began its offensive on Tuesday.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which monitors the conflict through a network of local activists, said the families of government officials were among those killed in the village of Amiriyeh, just north of Palmyra.

The Syrian conflict, which began as a peaceful uprising against Assad's rule more than three years ago, has become a bloody and protracted sectarian war killing more than 200,000 people.


TOPICS: Conspiracy; History; Military/Veterans; Religion
KEYWORDS: antiquities; godsgravesglyphs; isil; isis; jihad; palmrya; palmyra; romanempire; syria

1 posted on 05/16/2015 2:30:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

put Palmyra into Google images. The place is full of antiquities.


2 posted on 05/16/2015 2:39:02 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (I Love Bull Markets!!!)
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To: BunnySlippers

Not for long. :(


3 posted on 05/16/2015 2:40:54 PM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (The White House is now known as "Casa Blanca".)
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

Bing Images
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Palmyra&FORM=HDRSC2


4 posted on 05/16/2015 2:42:21 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (I Love Bull Markets!!!)
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To: BunnySlippers

Beautiful.


5 posted on 05/16/2015 2:46:30 PM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (The White House is now known as "Casa Blanca".)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

A couple of PUFFs could lay down a nice line in the sand .. Not to cross.


6 posted on 05/16/2015 2:59:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (SEMPER FI!! - Monthly Donors Rock!!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Oh I love this ... Irina Bokova and the UN are worried about the historic city. Never mind all the people who will be chopped to bits.

PS. It is indeed tragic that historical places are being smashed but what is the UN doing about it?

Really ... Oh I know! I know! let’s send in the Americans to do everything and save everyone ... that’s what the UN always says ... later they’ll say we were being imperialistic.


7 posted on 05/16/2015 3:09:04 PM PDT by Lorianne (fed pork, bailouts, gone taxmoney)
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To: Lorianne

That’s what some of the commenters want at the link.


8 posted on 05/16/2015 3:20:57 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Oh of course they do.
America to the rescue!

(We’ll kick them down later).


9 posted on 05/16/2015 3:23:40 PM PDT by Lorianne (fed pork, bailouts, gone taxmoney)
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from the FRchives:

10 posted on 05/16/2015 3:26:05 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The whole ISIL is really strange. They come out of no where, beat the crap out of existing armies with the aid of a bit of treachery,and appear to have superior material and tactics than any group in the region. With the possible exception of the peshmerga in northern Iraq. A line from a movie comes to mind, who are those guys? I suspect they are former Republican Guards Groups with former Iraqi General Officer leadership. The next questions is who is paying them? The Saudis? What is going on over there?


11 posted on 05/16/2015 3:44:20 PM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: Nuc 1.1

‘I suspect they are former Republican Guards Groups with former Iraqi General Officer leadership. The next questions is who is paying them? The Saudis? What is going on over there?’

They are ordinary Islamic terrorists supported by Saudis and Obama who pretend that various faction of ISIS are ‘moderate rebels’ fighting secular governments.
The power or ISIS over other parties comes primarily from the technical and financial support of said actors and also endless line of Islamists including Western useful idiots sharing their ideology and ready to fight for their cause.
I wouldn’t exclude is some soldiers of former Iraqi regime are within ISIS ranks but their number is minimal. Saddam regime these people represented was actually the very opposite to ISIS goals.
If anything they probably have more post-Saddam US-trained Iraqi military with them.


12 posted on 05/17/2015 5:06:30 AM PDT by Paid_Russian_Troll
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To: Paid_Russian_Troll

I understand the points. But a rag tagged group of terriorsts doesn’t consistently defeat army regulars and take and hold portions of nations. There is more here than meets the eye. Who is training these people? How were the nucleus personnel trained and equipped? Are the Saudis capable of mounting this type military effort? In secret? And if we are helping them then Islamists are running our government beyond any doubt. And if Islamists are running our government our intelligence services and military will know it. And should take care of the situation but aren’t. Strange times indeed.


13 posted on 05/17/2015 7:28:23 PM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So much for that newly discovered 1,500-year-old Christian church in Palmyra...
“Christianity came to Palmyra in the year 312, at a time when Christians had begun to build churches,” he said. “And this one is huge — the biggest ever found in Syria....


14 posted on 05/21/2015 1:42:31 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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