MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, a local source told Sputnik that after week-long battles Syrian government forces withdrew from Palmyra to avoid the destruction of the historic part of the city, one of the most important cultural and archaeological sites in the Middle East. A majority of Palmyra's population was evacuated.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the ISIL militants have now captured more than 95 thousand square kilometers of Syrian lands (some 36,700 square miles) and have a full or partial control of nine out of the country's 14 governorates. The terrorist group also controls "the vast majority of oil and gas fields."
The Islamic State is a Sunni jihadist group that captured large areas in Iraq and Syria, proclaiming a caliphate on lands it has seized.
