Islamic State Reportedly Executes More than 200 People After Seizing Ancient City of Palmyra

Islamic State militants have reportedly executed at least 217 people, including women and children, in and around Palmyra after the ancient city was seized by the group last week, AFP reports.

Almost a third of those killed were civilians, while most of the others were soldiers or members of pro-regime militias, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“The Observatory has confirmed that the Islamic State has executed 67 civilians, including 14 children and 12 women in Sukhnah, Al-Amiriyah, the outskirts of the Officers’ Housing and Palmyra,” said the group, referring to several areas in the east of Homs province.

“IS also executed more than 150 members of the army, National Defence Forces and Popular Committees (pro-regime militias) and others accused of being ‘informers loyal to the regime’,” the Observatory added.

The Observatory said some people were shot, others killed with knives and some beheaded.

The report from the Observatory came hours after Syrian state television said ISIS had carried out a “massacre” in Palmyra, executing nearly 400 civilians, mostly women and children, after the militants seized the ancient city five days ago.

It was not immediately possible to verify the account, but it was consistent with accounts by activists who claim that the group had carried out extra-judicial executions since seizing the city from government troops.

The Islamic State reportedly gained full control of Palmyra and its ancient archaeological sites, its military bases and the notorious Tadmur prison last Thursday, marking the first time the al-Qaida offshoot has taken control of a city directly from the Syrian army and its allied forces.

The fall of the town to the Islamic State is a significant loss to the government because it potentially opens the way for the extremists to advance toward key government-held areas, including the capital city of Damascus and Homs. It is also close to gas and oil fields that supply the regime’s strongholds in the west.

The capture of Palmyra came after the seizing of the Iraqi city of Ramadi in Anbar province. The two near-simultaneous victories of ISIS come despite continuing U.S. and coalition strikes, raising questions over whether the strategy is working.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported last week that the group now controlled more than half of all Syrian territory.

It raises questions, too, about the strength of President Bashar al-Assad’s troops, who have already lost ground in the northwestern province of Idlib, including the provincial capital of Idlib and the strategic town of Jisr al-Shughour, and in the south of the country to other insurgent groups in recent weeks.

Hezbollah Vows to Step up Involvement in Syria’s War

On Sunday, the leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said that the region is facing “unprecedented danger” from extremist groups and vowed his fighters will expand their involvement in Syria’s conflict in support of government troops, AP reports.

Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite militant group and a key ally of President Assad, has sent hundreds of fighters into Syria to assist government forces in the four-year conflict and has played a vital role in a major battle in recent weeks against jihadists in the Qalamoun region that borders Lebanon.

“Our presence will grow whenever it is required for us to be present,” Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

“We are present today in many places and I tell you we will be present wherever this battle requires. We are up to it and we are the men for it,” Nasrallah said.

The report comes on a particularly violent weekend in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that ISIS forces had shot down a Syrian military helicopter on Sunday near the Kweiras military base in the northern province of Aleppo, but state media said the aircraft had suffered technical problems. ISIS fighters have surrounded the air base since March 2014.

Meanwhile in Damascus a bomb exploded on Sunday morning near the city center killing a brigadier general and six of his bodyguards, the Observatory said. It reported that the attack was claimed by the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group.

Recommended Reads:

• Agence France-Presse: Syria Regime ‘to Accept de Facto Partition’ of Country
• Daily Beast: ISIS and the New ‘Army of Conquest’ in Syria are Headed for a Showdown
• The Huffington Post: U.S. Airstrikes in Syria ‘Have Killed So Many People. We Want Them to Stop’
• NPR: With Syria’s Army Losing Ground, a Boost from Hezbollah
• Associated Press: Hezbollah Vows to Expand Involvement in Syria’s Civil War