ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The seizure of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, also known as Tadmour, by the forces of the Islamic State, or ISIS, has left thousands of priceless artifacts and heritage sites in the hands of the extremists, warns Syria’s top antiquities official. “Before taking control of the city [by ISIS], a large number of the items were moved into Damascus, but thousands of the ancient items and sites still remain inside the city. Many are heavy and big, so difficult to relocate,” said Mamoun Abdulkarim, Syrian antiquities director, on Thursday . With the capture of Palmyra on Thursday, as well as a key border crossing and parts of Homs province, ISIS is reportedly now in control of half of Syria. Abdulkarim said almost all sites and ancient items in Syria’s Kurdish territory, known as Rojava, are still protected. “The Syrian government praises the role of Kurds in Rojava who did not allow these sites to be destroyed by Daesh,” he added, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS. ISIS overran the famed archaeological site of Palmyra just hours after capturing the accompanying city of the same name. It was the first time ISIS forces had defeated a force from the Syria government of President Bashar al-Assad. Experts, such as Abdulkarim, now fear the extremists may destroy the sites as they did in Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul. ISIS captured Palmyra only days after it captured the strategic city of Ramadi in Iraq's largest Sunni province of Anbar.
