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. 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 consternation about palmyra being in the hands
of people taking pleasure in destroying what s left of the ancient world. today they called the possible destruction a war crime. any destruction to palmyra, it s not just the war crime, but it will mean an enormous loss for humanity. it is important because we are speaking of the work of human civilization. we are speaking of something that belongs to the whole of humanity. isis has done a lot of damage all over iraq and syria. they have destroyed many large archeological sites. questions have been raised as to whether or not they are in some cases trying to make it look like they are destroying more than they are. while actually some of what they re doing is looting antiquities and selling them for cash on the black market.
of people taking plaish in destroying what s left of the ancient world. today they called eight war crime. any destruction to pal miria, it s not just the war crime, but it will mean an enormous loss for humanity. it is important because we are speaking of the work of human civilization. we are speaking of something that belongs to the whole of humanity. isis has done a lot of damage all over iraq and syria. they have destroyed many large archeological sites. questions have been raised as to whether or not they are in some cases trying to make it look like they are destroying more than they are. while actually some of what they re doing is lootingantic equities and succeeding as far as they have. they have a huge economy.
built. they stretch for more than half a mile. they link to this, the temple of bell. which was a main place of 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. drawing thousands of people to its oasis and arclogical sites this year. earlier this week, there were reports isis made it towards palmyra. yesterday, there were reports they entered palmyra. today we got the news isis has taken control of the city. both the modern part and the ancient part.
museum, you see a lot of statues don t have heads and arms on them. that s because they were broken by people. but they were broken by people hundreds or thousands of years ago. not today and tomorrow. on more pedestrian terms, is it strategically important either, should we look at it strategically important that isis has now taken a city from bashar al-assad s troops and is it strategically important that they do seem to control ever more oil and gas infrastructure inside syria? yes and yes. i think the fact that they are taking territory directly away from the syrian government is a problem. it s showing how weak the syrian government has now become after four years roughly of constant fighting in the country.