ISIS forces have extended their control around the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra and two Iraqi security officials said on Friday the terror group took control of the Iraqi town of Husayba, pushing east from Ramadi.
The jihadist rebels took a military station in the countryside as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad abandoned the site overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Friday.
Iraqi security officials said on Friday that after taking control of Husayba — a small town between Ramadi and Habbaniya — ISIS militants appeared to be heading towards al Khalidiya, the last town between Ramadi and Habbaniya’s military base and airbase.
In western Syria, Islamist rebels with Jabhat al-Nusra seized the National Hospital on the southwest outskirts of the city of Jisr Ash-Shughur from al-Assad forces, according to the group.
Palmyra fears
The capture of Syria’s ancient city, about 150 miles northeast of Damascus, threatens a UNESCO World Heritage Site described as having “stood at the crossroads of several civilizations,” with its art and architecture mixing Greek, Roman and Persian influences, according to that U.N. group.
U.N. and Syrian officials have expressed fears that ISIS will destroy the ruins, just as it flattened the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and smashed statues in Iraq’s Mosul Museum.
Residents attempting to flee Ramadi to Baghdad have been using a bridge to safely leave the ISIS-controlled city, but the bridge was inexplicably closed, leaving many stuck in Anbar province, according to CNN’s Arwa Damon.
The Iraqi government requires that anyone who is not from Baghdad province and is trying to enter the area from Anbar province must have a sponsor in Baghdad. There are reports that the restrictions have been sporadically lifted over the past few days, according to Damon.
Four years of war
Civil war broke out four years ago in Syria, providing an opening for groups such as ISIS to emerge and take on forces loyal to al-Assad. With its latest offensive, ISIS controls more than half the country — in parts of 10 of 14 provinces — as well as “the vast majority of the gas and oil fields,” the observatory estimates.
Fueled by its success in Syria, the militant group also has captured swaths of neighboring Iraq, including its second-largest city, Mosul. This week, ISIS seized the key city of Ramadi, a milestone that a U.S. State Department official acknowledged is a major blow in coalition efforts to defeat ISIS.
Thursday it took over the last Syria-Iraq border crossing that was under the control of Syrian troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Tunef border crossing fell under ISIS control after Syrian regime troops withdrew, the activist group reported. ISIS also controls the Al Waleed border station on the Iraqi side.
However, the U.S.-led coalition said on Friday that it had made progress in its effort to gain control of the Baiji oil refinery.
Historian: ‘Couldn’t be higher stakes’
This week’s fall of Palmyra spurred condemnation worldwide, leading to tweets that used #SavePalmyra.
“Am screaming #SavePalmyra out of sheer despair,” an activist wrote, “as I dont know who this scream is directed to or what anyone can do.”
ISIS has conquered many other parts of Syria and Iraq. But Palmyra stands out for its history.
The city already was a caravan oasis when the Romans overtook it in the middle of the first century. Its importance grew on a trade route linking the Roman Empire to Persia, India and China.
“The ruins are absolutely glorious,” said CNN iReport contributor Aradhana Anand, who visited Palmyra in 2010. It’s “heartbreaking, really.”
British historian and novelist Tom Holland has described Palmyra as “an extraordinary fusion of classical and Iranian influences intermixed with various Arab influence as well.”
Extensive destruction of Palmyra wouldn’t just be a tragedy for Syria. It would be a loss for the world, Holland said.
“Mesopotamia, Iraq, Syria, this is the wellspring of global civilization,” he said. “It really couldn’t be higher stakes in terms of conservation.”
Will centuries-old artifacts be destroyed or sold?
Syria already has seen its storied past damaged and destroyed by war.
Notable casualties include 11th-century Crusader castle Crac des Chevaliers; regime airstrikes severely damaged its walls in 2013. Aleppo’s covered market, a formerly thriving part of Syria’s economic and social life, was severely damaged in a fire in 2012.
ISIS is “distinctive and horrendous” in how it treats history, Holland said. Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said the group poses “the biggest danger” now to his country’s artifacts.
“In general, ISIS attacks people first for control,” Abdulkarim said. “Second, they attack heritage by destroying for propaganda and ideological reasons. And (third), they work with the mafia to sell the artifacts.”
The Syrian government says it has moved many artifacts, including hundreds of statues, to safer locations. But it can’t relocate an entire archaeological site.
“We consider this … a culture battle for humanity and all the world,” Abdulkarim said. “Palmyra is very important in the minds of the Syrian people and also the international community. Now we are very afraid.”