Islamic State fighters tightened
their grip on the historic Syrian city of Palmyra on Thursday and
overran Iraqi government defences east of Ramadi, the provincial capital
that they seized five days earlier.
An Iraqi Sunni displaced woman, who fled the violence in the city of Ramadi, is seen on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq May 19, 2015.
The twin successes not only pile
pressure on Damascus and Baghdad but throw doubt on a U.S. strategy of
relying almost exclusively on air strikes to support the fight against
Islamic State.
U.S. and coalition forces had conducted
18 air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq since
Wednesday, the U.S. military said.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said the al Qaeda offshoot now controlled more than half
of all Syrian territory after more than four years of conflict that grew
out of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
The monitoring group added that Islamic
State had seized the last border crossing between Syria and Iraq
controlled by the Damascus government. The crossing is in Syria's Homs
province, where Palmyra is located.
Fighters loyal to the Sunni Muslim group
have also consolidated their grip on the Libyan city of Sirte, home
town of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The White House said the seizure of
Palmyra was a setback for U.S.-led coalition forces in their fight
against Islamic State. But spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack
Obama disagreed with Republicans demanding he send ground troops to
fight the Islamist militants.
The Obama administration has publicly
expressed confidence in Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, but some
U.S. officials are questioning privately whether he is too weak to
bridge Iraq's sectarian divide.
Islamic State said in a statement posted
by followers on Twitter that it was in full charge of Palmyra,
including its military bases, marking the first time it had taken a city
directly from the Syrian military and allied forces.
The U.N. human rights office in Geneva
said a third of Palmyra's 200,000 residents may have fled the fighting
in the past few days.
Fears for civilians
U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina
Shamdasani also said there were reports of government forces preventing
civilians leaving, although state media said pro-government National
Defense Forces had evacuated civilians before withdrawing.
"ISIL (Islamic State) has reportedly
been carrying out door-to-door searches in the city, looking for people
affiliated with the government," Shamdasani said. "At least 14 civilians
are reported to have been executed by ISIL in Palmyra this week."
The ultra-hardline group has destroyed
antiquities in Iraq and there are fears it might now devastate Palmyra,
home to renowned Roman-era ruins including well-preserved temples,
colonnades and a theatre.
The U.N. cultural agency, UNESCO,
describes the site as a historical crossroads between the Roman Empire,
India, China and ancient Persia and a testament to the world's diverse
heritage.
"We may have different beliefs ...
different views, but we have to protect such incredible vestiges of
human history," UNESCO's director general, Irina Bokova, told Reuters
Television.
Syria's antiquities chief, Maamoun
Abdulkarim, told Reuters: "This is the fall of a civilisation. ...
Human, civilised society has lost the battle against barbarism."
Al-Azhar, the centre of Islamic learning
in Egypt, urged the world to protect Palmyra, saying the destruction of
cultural heritage was forbidden by Islam.
Rami Abdulrahman, founder of the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, said Islamic State fighters had entered
the ancient sites by early on Thursday but there were no immediate
reports of destruction.
Westward advance
The assault is part of a westward
advance by Islamic State that is adding to pressures on Syria's
overstretched army and militias, which have also lost ground in the
northwest and south.
Taking Palmyra gives Islamic State
access to modern army installations and control of a desert highway
linking government-held Damascus and Homs with Syria's mainly rebel-held
east.
Although Islamic State has seized large
chunks of Syria, the areas it holds are mostly sparsely inhabited.
Syria's main cities, including the capital Damascus, are located on its
western flank, along the border with Lebanon and on the coast.
Just five days before Palmyra fell,
Islamic State seized Ramadi, capital of Iraq's largest province, Anbar,
where the Sunni Muslim Islamic State has tapped into resentment among
local Sunnis who say they have been marginalised by Shi'ite-led
governments in Baghdad.
Obama said the fall of Ramadi was a
"tactical setback" but, in an interview released on Thursday, added that
he did not think the fight against Islamic State was being lost.
'Military, diplomatic and economic help'
"There's no doubt that, in the Sunni
areas, we're going to have to ramp up not just training, but also
commitment, and we better get Sunni tribes more activated than they
currently have been," Obama said in the interview, conducted on Tuesday
with The Atlantic magazine.
"I think Prime Minister Abadi is sincere
and committed to an inclusive Iraqi state, and I will continue to order
our military to provide the Iraqi security forces all assistance that
they need in order to secure their country, and I'll provide diplomatic
and economic assistance that's necessary for them to stabilize," Obama
said.
Iraq's government has ordered Shi'ite
militias, some of which have close ties to Iran, to join the battle to
retake Ramadi, raising fears of renewed sectarian strife.
Washington wants the counter-offensive to include both Sunni and Shi'ite forces under direct government command.
One U.S. official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said there had been long-standing concerns in Washington
about Abadi's ability to navigate Iraq's sectarian politics and that
recent events had raised misgivings about him.
But Washington sees no viable alternative for Abadi, current and former U.S. officials said.
Source: Reuters