scale. before the start of the civil war in syria, the ancient city of palmyra was syria s top tourist attraction. drives thousands of people to its oasis and arc logical sites this year. earlier this week, there were reports isis made it towards palmyra. yesterday, there were reports they entered pam mira. today we got the news isis has taken control of the city. both the modern part and the ancient part. malmira was overrun by isis militants. there are reports in the city still has a large civilian population that is still present even though isis has arrived. militants are reportedly going door-to-door, they say looking for syrian soldier the notable thing about this particular takeover is this seals to be the first time that isis has seized control of a significant size city from the syrian government, from brought bashar al-assad s troops. previous takeovers in syria have been from other rebel groups or contested areas. but this was a city protected bety army.
recaptured by the romans and either dies under torture or dies of a hunger strike in rome or lives out the rest of her life in luxury. but is revered as this legendary character oz a strong woman who led an army an author wrote about her. they painted her, addressing her troops and she was from palmyra. this is an important city. this is a part of the western civilization. it s a part of all of our cultural heritage. now it s in the hands of isis. how intact is palmyra? how much is there to see in palmyra when you go now? or when you went before last week, right? well, it is breath taking. it s one of the most beautiful sights in the ancient world. i have been as to pal mir. reporter: i have always wanted to go back.
succeeding as far as they have they have a huge economy. they ve taken great pains to make sure they have money taking it from banks and operating in all sorts of different major economies. that s why it was seen as a valuable target when delta force commandos went into syria and killed one isis leader this past weekend. he was not the top leader the self practice claimed caliph or perceived to be an important leader. he was basically their money guy, their treasury secretary, their cfo. he was the guy organizing a lot of their income particularly from the oil sector. less than a week after isis seized control of ramadi in iraq s anbar province, isis has taken palmyra to help us understand the importance of this richard engel, it s nice to see you. thanks, for being here.
warship and there is this roman theater. look at that. it was built in the 2nd century, never fully completed. palmyra is just full of very very notable pieces of great archeological significance and great beauty. giant structures that you immediately spot as you approach the city. it s in syria, it s 130 miles northeast of damascus. a city of epic ruins on an epic scale. before the start of the civil war in syria, the ancient city of palmyra was syria s top tourist attraction. drives thousands of people to its oasis and arc logical sites this year. earlier this week, there were reports isis made it towards palmyra. yesterday, there were reports they entered pam mira. today we got the news isis has taken control of the city. both the modern part and the ancient part. malmira was overrun by isis militants. there are reports in the city still has a large civilian
palmyra was overrun by isis militants. there are reports in the city still has a large civilian population that is still present even though isis has arrived. militants are reportedly going door-to-door, they say looking for syrian soldier the notable thing about this particular takeover is this seals to be the first time that isis has seized control of a significant size city from the syrian government, from president bashar al assad s troops. previous takeovers in syria have been from other rebel groups or contested areas. but this was a city protected by the army. the official army of syria and bashar al assad. with this gain, arguably, isis controls something like half of syria, including large portions of its oil fields. there are no reports of the damaged archeological sites so far, given isis previous experience with other archeologically sensitive things the destruction of antiquities in the grand museum in mosul and iraq, for obvious reason, there is a lot of global consterna