Palmyra Liberation: Syrian Army Clears Site from Daesh Explosives

Local Editor

A day after the liberation of Palmyra from the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"], Syrian Army units and allied forces on Friday were clearing land mines and explosives left behind the terrorist group in the historic town, a Syrian security official said.

The military expects the process to be long and difficult due to the large number of mines planted by Daesh, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Syrian troops fully recaptured Palmyra Thursday after a push that saw the militants' defenses crumble and Daesh insurgents flee in the face of artillery fire and intense Russia-backed airstrikes.

It's the third time the town - famed for its priceless Roman ruins and archaeological treasures Daesh had sought to destroy - has changed hands in one year. The Syrian Army seized the town from the Wahhabi Daesh militants last March, only to lose it again 10 months later.

Last spring, it took Russian demining experts weeks to clear the town from hundreds of mines planted by Daesh.

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

Syrian state television broadcast footage showing troops near the town's archaeological site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the historic citadel Friday.

Archeologists had decried what they say is extensive damage to Palmyra's treasured ruins.

Drone footage released by Russia's Defense Ministry earlier this month showed new damage Daesh had inflicted 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.

Daesh destroyed scores of ancient sites across its self-styled "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq, viewing them as monuments to idolatry.

Maamoun Abdu-Karim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Syria, told The Associated Press Thursday night that this time around, the damage to the ruins seemed les in magnitude.

"We had expected the worst. However, the damage, according to the available photos, appears limited," he said.

palmyra | daesh | russian airstrikes

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team