BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Islamic State fighters tightened their grip on the historic Syrian city of Palmyra yesterday and overran Iraqi government defences east of Ramadi, the provincial capital that they seized five days earlier.
The twin successes not only pile pressure on Damascus and Baghdad but throw doubt on a U.S. strategy of relying almost exclusively on air strikes to support the fight against Islamic State.
U.S. and coalition forces had conducted 18 air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq since Wednesday, the U.S. military said.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the al Qaeda offshoot now controlled more than half of all Syrian territory after more than four years of conflict that grew out of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
The monitoring group added that Islamic State had seized the last border crossing between Syria and Iraq controlled by the Damascus government. The crossing is in Syria’s Homs province, where Palmyra is located.
Fighters loyal to the Sunni Muslim group have also consolidated their grip on the Libyan city of Sirte, home town of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The White House said the seizure of Palmyra was a setback for U.S.-led coalition forces in their fight against Islamic State. But spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama disagreed with Republicans demanding he send ground troops to fight the Islamist militants.
The Obama administration has publicly expressed confidence in Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, but some U.S. officials are questioning privately whether he is too weak to bridge Iraq’s sectarian divide.
Islamic State said in a statement posted by followers on Twitter that it was in full charge of Palmyra, including its military bases, marking the first time it had taken a city directly from the Syrian military and allied forces.
The U.N. human rights office in Geneva said a third of Palmyra’s 200,000 residents may have fled the fighting in the past few days.
FEARS FOR CIVILIANS
U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani also said there were reports of government forces preventing civilians leaving, although state media said pro-government National Defense Forces had evacuated civilians before withdrawing.
“ISIL (Islamic State) has reportedly been carrying out door-to-door searches in the city, looking for people affiliated with the government,” Shamdasani said. “At least 14 civilians are reported to have been executed by ISIL in Palmyra this week.”