Syria, its allies oust ISIS from ancient city

Syrian government forces take up positions during fighting between them and Islamic State group militants Thursday in the fight for possession of the ancient city of Palmyra.
Syrian government forces take up positions during fighting between them and Islamic State group militants Thursday in the fight for possession of the ancient city of Palmyra.

BEIRUT -- Syria's military announced Thursday that it had fully recaptured the historic town of Palmyra from the Islamic State as the militants' defenses crumbled and Islamic State fighters fled in the face of artillery fire and Russia-backed airstrikes.

The development marks the third time that the town -- known for its Roman ruins and archaeological treasures that the Islamic State, sometimes referred to by the acronym ISIS, had sought to destroy -- has changed hands in one year.

It was also the second blow for the Islamic State in Syria in a week, after Turkish-backed opposition fighters seized the Syrian town of al-Bab from the militants Feb. 23, closing a three-month battle. In neighboring Iraq, the Sunni extremist group was fighting for survival in its last urban bastion in the western part of the city of Mosul.

For the Syrian government, the news was a welcome development against the backdrop of peace talks underway with opposition groups in Switzerland.

"You are all invited to visit the historic city of Palmyra and witness its beauty, now that it has been liberated," the Damascus envoy to the U.N.-mediated talks, Bashar al-Ja'afari, told reporters in Geneva.

"Of course, counterterrorism operations will continue until the last inch of our territory is liberated from the hands of these foreign terrorist organizations, which are wreaking havoc in our country," he added.

The Damascus military statement said troops gained full control of the desert town in central Syria after a series of military operations carried out with the help of Russian air power and in cooperation with "allied and friendly troops" -- government shorthand for members of Lebanese militant Hezbollah group who are fighting along Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces.

ISIS defenses around Palmyra began to erode Sunday, with government troops reaching the town's outskirts Tuesday. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported earlier that government troops had entered the town's archaeological site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, around midday, then the town itself, as the militants fled.

This is the Syrian government's second campaign to retake Palmyra. It seized the town from Islamic State militants last March only to lose it again 10 months later.

Before the civil war gripped Syria in 2011, Palmyra was a top tourist attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year.

A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had said earlier that Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed by his defense minister that Syrian troops had gained control of Palmyra with support from Russian warplanes.

The Syrian government's push has relied on ground support from Hezbollah and Russian air cover, according to Hezbollah's media outlets.

Archaeologists have decried what they say is extensive damage to its ruins.

Drone footage released by Russia's Defense Ministry earlier this month showed new damage to the facade of Palmyra's Roman-era theater and the adjoining Tetrapylon -- a set of four monuments with four columns each at the center of the colonnaded road leading to the theater.

The developments in Palmyra came during talks in Geneva, which have been without any tangible breakthroughs so far. Diplomats and negotiators have set their sights on modest achievements in the latest round, after a week of discussions focused on setting an agenda for future talks.

On Thursday, U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura held another round of meetings with both the government delegation and opposition groups.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told reporters Wednesday that "the parties have agreed to ... discuss all issues in a parallel way, on several tracks."

After a Damascus request, the issue of terrorism is also on the table, he said. Russia is a key sponsor of Assad's government.

A top Syrian opposition negotiator, Nasr al-Hariri, said the talks would likely culminate in a closing ceremony today, and the parties may be back in Geneva for more discussions in a few weeks.

In Turkey, the country's foreign minister said that with the completion of the operation to retake al-Bab in northern Syria, Turkish troops will head to the Syrian town of Manbij next, to oust U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces that Ankara views as terrorists and a threat to Turkey.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday that Turkey would not shy away from attacking the Kurdish group that dominates the Syria Democratic Forces, which captured Manbij last year after weeks of deadly fighting with the Islamic State.

He renewed calls for the new U.S. administration not to support the Kurdish forces. Cavusoglu stressed that an operation to take Manbij had not started yet, but he acknowledged that skirmishes between Turkish-backed forces and the Kurdish fighters may have occurred.

Information for this article was contributed by Philip Issa, Kirsten Grieshaber and Albert Aji of The Associated Press.

A Section on 03/03/2017

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