Syrian army advances west of IS-controlled Palmyra

Damascus (AFP) - The Syrian army has reopened a key oil supply route near Islamic State-controlled Palmyra, as the jihadist group has mined the city's ancient UNESCO-listed ruins.

However, the advance toward the central city from the west, reported by a pro-government newspaper and a monitoring group, and stepped up air strikes, do not indicate an imminent offensive to retake it.

IS overran Palmyra on May 21, sparking fears that the radical Sunni Muslim group might repeat the sort of vandalism it has carried out in Iraq and destroy one of Syria's most famous archaeological sites.

"The infantry has made tangible progress in the area of Biyarat al-Gharbiyeh," west of Palmyra, which had previously been in IS hands, said Al-Watan newspaper.

And the army had "intensified" its operations against IS in Palmyra and the surrounding area, the newspaper added.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been monitoring the conflict, said the army was now 10 kilometres (six miles) away from Palmyra.

The monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, said that President Bashar al-Assad's troops had "chased IS fighters from Biyarat al-Gharbiyeh on the weekend".

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the capture of the area "allows the regime to secure a transport route for oil from the Jazal field... to other Syrian cities under its control."

Destroying the ruins sounds like “rearranging the rubble.” But I do know that the ruins of Palmyra do have significant historical significance.

On the other hand, radical moslems killing each other isn’t such a bad thing. Hopefully they kill off each other’s more virulent strains. I know it hasn’t happened yet in all the centuries of trying, but hey, I’m not a quitter.

The Kurds have just captured the former Syrian Army Brigade 93 base, 30 Miles North of Raqaa.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/kurdish-forces-capture-isil-base-syria-raqqa-150623085756935.html

This gives the Kurds the main base dominating a stretch of highway M4, the “inner” of the two Northern Highways that run East-West. This does two big things:

1. This links the Western Kurdish areas, notably Kobani, with the Eastern Kurdish areas, and Iraqi Kurdistan.

2. This closes off ISIS from Turkey in the North (channelizing them along the Euphrates River), while Regime Forces are approaching from the West.

Raqaa, the ISIS Capitol, is suddenly looking at risk.

Everyone was looking for a culminating battle over Mosul this Summer. After the Battle of Tikrit bogged down on the road to Mosul however, ISIS swept around and captured Ramadi, threatening Baghdad. Now it looks like the anti-ISIS forces are returning the favor, threatening Raqaa.

The balance of forces seems to put Raqaa at much greater risk than Baghdad.

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