palmyra isis
I maj sidste år, var verden forfærdet da den lærte at en bande af plyndrende bande jihadister af ørkenbanditter med sværd i hånden og med vajrende sorte flag, som vi også kender som CIA afkommet Islamisk Stat, havde overløbet den urgamle by Palmyra. Byen som er på UNESCOs verdensarvsliste, er kendt for sine billedsmukke oldtidsruiner og har en rig kulturel historie som binder græske, romerske og persiske indflydelser sammen.

Frygten - udover at de militante måtte myrde alle mændene og slavebinde kvinder og børn - var at IS ville ødelægge byens arkitektoniske rigdomme. Denne frygt var realiseret i oktober da rapporter indikerede at gruppen havde sprængt Triumpbuen i luften, et 2000 år gammelt monument som daterer tilbage til det romerske imperium. Her er en droneoverflyvning af ødelæggelsen:


Og et før/efter kontrast

palmyra isis
"Det er en forbrydelsen i enhver form af ordet," sagde Syriens chef for oldtidsminder. "Det eneste vi kan gøre er at dele sorgen."


Kommentar: Denne artikel er blot delvis oversat til dansk af sott.net fra Insane: U.S. State Dept. rep Mark Toner can't bring himself to say liberating Palmyra from Daesh is a good thing


Yes, "a crime in every sense of the word," but destroying the Arch wasn't the only "crime" ISIS committed at the city's vaunted ruins. The militants also put on a rather horrific (if morbidly epic) display in The Roman Theatre where city residents were forced to watch as two dozen teenage ISIS trainees carried out a mass execution of captured SAA soldiers.
palmyra isis
Right. So that's all really, really bad which is why you would think everyone would be happy to learn that the Syrian army - with the help of Russian commandos and Moscow's warplanes - have now entered the city and are on the verge of liberating it from the ISIS scourge. One Russian SpecOps soldier was reportedly killed in the fighting. "The soldier died heroically, calling the strike onto himself after he was discovered and surrounded by terrorists," Interfax said.

"Syrian government forces fought their way into Palmyra on Thursday as the army backed by Russian air cover sought to recapture the historic city from Islamic State (IS) insurgents," Reuters reports. "The state-run news channel Ikhbariya broadcast images from just outside Palmyra on Thursday and said government fighters had taken over a hotel district in the west [while] the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army had advanced into the hotel district just to the southwest of the city and reached the start of a residential area, after a rapid advance the day before brought the army and its allies right up to its outskirts."

So, after nine months in ISIS hands, the Russians, Hezbollah, and the SAA are about to liberate a UNESCO world heritage site from the most brutal jihadist organization the world has ever known. Unequivocally good right?

Not necessarily, according to the US State Dept. Watch below as spokesman Mark Toner tries to explain to reporters why it may be better if ISIS holds onto its territory. "You know I mean look... broadly speaking .... you know... it's not a great choice... an either/or... but... you know..."

No Mark, we don't "know."