Islamic State extremists made key gains on Friday, seizing a government compound in the strategic city of Ramadi, Iraq, hours after allegedly massacring dozens of civilians as they closed in on Syria’s ancient metropolis of Palmyra.
Women and children were among at least 23 people executed in cold blood outside Palmyra, monitoring groups said, as fears grew that advancing Islamic State extremists would destroy the ancient city renowned as a World Heritage site.
Following the latest reported atrocity by the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, extremists raised their black flag over Ramadi’s government headquarters after launching a wide offensive using suicide car bombs that sent civilians fleeing the western city, edging closer to what would be their biggest victory in Iraq this year.
Photo: Reuters
The group “now occupies the government center in Ramadi and has also raised its flag over the police headquarters for Anbar [Governorate],” an Iraqi police major told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The loss of the capital of Anbar would be a major setback for Iraq’s government, which has struggled to gain the upper hand against the extremist group in the region and Baiji, north of Baghdad, despite months of US-led bombing raids.
Iraq’s government said Ramadi had not yet fallen, adding that a major counteroffensive was under way.
The extremists already hold Mosul, Iraq’s second city and the capital of neighboring Nineveh Governorate.
US Vice President Joe Biden on Friday pledged to expedite the provision of supplies to Iraqi forces in a telephone conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The extremists gains in Iraq came as rights groups reported that the group had massacred 23 people as it advanced on Palmyra, and it now held positions within 1km of the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman told reporters that Islamic State fighters had “executed by gunfire 23 civilians, including nine children, in the village of Amiriyeh, north of Tadmor,” adding that relatives of Syrian government officials were among those killed.
Palmyra, a 2,000-year-old desert oasis site known in Arabic as Tadmor, is one of Syria’s most-prized historical gems; experts fear that the extremists plan to destroy the city after it sacked the Iraqi archaeological sites of Nimrud and Hatra.
“It is our responsibility to alert the [UN] Security Council so that it will take strong decisions,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said, adding that the world body is “very worried.”
Since the Islamic State offensive in Anbar began early on Wednesday last week, more than 138 combatants — 73 Iraqi soldiers and 65 extremists — have reportedly been killed.
There were also reports of at least 26 civilians executed by the Islamic State group, the watchdog organization said.
US President Barack Obama on Friday said that Syria would not likely see peace before he leaves office in early 2017, while reaffirming his belief that there is no “military solution” to the conflict.
“The situation in Syria is heartbreaking, but it is extremely complex” Obama told the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television network, adding that “too often in the Middle East region, people attribute everything to the United States.”
Also on Friday, the chief of staff of the US command overseeing the US-led air war against the Islamic State group, US Marine Corps Brigadier General Thomas Weidley, said the extremists remained “on the defensive,” despite their seizure of Ramadi.
“We firmly believe Daesh is on the defensive throughout Iraq and Syria,” Weidley told reporters, using an alternative acronym for the group.
Meanwhile north of Baghdad, Iraqi troops were engaged in a difficult fight to hold onto the nation’s largest oil refinery in Baiji, despite 165 US strikes against the extremists.
In Syria, the Syrian army pledged to send reinforcements to protect Palmyra, home to about 70,000 people, including displaced Syrians.
“The army has sent reinforcements and it is bombing the [extremists] positions from the air,” Homs Governorate Governor Talal Barazi told reporters, saying that the situation was “under control.”
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