Syria army pushes Daesh back from ancient Palmyra

DAMASCUS — Syrian troops pushed Daesh group jihadists back from the ancient city of Palmyra on Sunday, easing fears over the world heritage site, after fighting that left hundreds dead.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said nearly 300 people have been killed in four days of fighting since Daesh launched an assault on the desert oasis city on Wednesday.

The toll comprised 123 soldiers and loyalist militiamen, 115 Daesh fighters as well as 57 civilians, dozens of whom were executed by the jihadists, the observatory said, quoting sources on the ground.

On Saturday the jihadists pressed their offensive and seized the northern part of the modern town of Palmyra, known as Tadmur in Arabic, but were driven out by regime forces.

“Daesh’s attack was foiled,” said provincial governor Talal Barazi.

He told AFP the army was “still combing the streets for bombs” after recapturing the northern districts.

“The situation in the city and its outskirts is good,” he said.

But the observatory said clashes were still under way Sunday in the northern suburb of Al Amiriyah, around the prison east of the city and around Haql Al Hail gas field northeast of Palmyra.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the jihadists were still just a kilometre away from the UNESCO-listed heritage site and its adjacent museum housing thousands of priceless artefacts.

“Daesh is still present outside the city, to the south and east,” Abdel Rahman said. 

Syrian antiquities chief Mamoun Abdulkarim expressed relief that Daesh, known for its wanton destruction of archaeological sites in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq, did not attack the site.

“We have good news today, we feel much better,” Abdulkarim told AFP by telephone.

“There was no damage to the ruins, but this does not mean we should not be afraid.”

The jihadists launched their offensive from their stronghold in the Euphrates Valley to the east, triggering ferocious fighting with the army, which has a major base just outside Palmyra.

Four Daesh leaders killed

The antiquities chief said he had been “living in a state of terror” that Daesh would destroy the first and second century temples and colonnaded streets that are among Palmyra’s architectural treasures.

Abdulkarim said he remained concerned for Palmyra in light of the destruction wreaked by Daesh on pre-Islamic sites such as Nimrud and Hatra in neighbouring Iraq.

On Thursday, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova appealed to Syrian troops and jihadists to spare Palmyra, which the organisation describes as one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.

Governor Barazi, meanwhile, voiced concern for the population, saying the fighting had forced civilians in the countryside to swamp Palmyra, home to 70,000 people.

“We are taking all necessary precautions and we are working on securing humanitarian aid quickly in fear of masses fleeing from the city,” he said.

Barazi said the army had recaptured strategic locations including hilltops, checkpoints and Palmyra’s television tower in the northwest which Daesh had overrun.

Troops also killed more than 130 jihadists, he said.

Daesh posted pictures online of what it said was one of two checkpoints fighters seized inside Haql Al Hail gas field, triggering more clashes with pro-regime forces.

And the observatory director said a US raid late on Friday on one of Syria’s largest oilfields killed 32 Daesh members, including four leading officials.

“The US operation killed 32 members of Daesh, among them four officials, including Daesh oil chief Abu Sayyaf, the deputy Daesh defence minister and an Daesh communications official,” said Abdel Rahman.

US officials have said “about a dozen” people were killed in the operation by Iraq-based US commandos trying to capture Abu Sayyaf.

Abdel Rahman said three of the four leading officials killed in the raid were from north Africa, but that the communications official was a Syrian.