ISIS Controls Half of Syria/Ramadi

The Syrian observatory for Human Rights is exceedingly concerned about the territorial advances of the worldwide terrorist organization, ISIS, and their recent annexation of the ancient city, Palmyra, and the city of Al-Tanaf, on the border of neighboring country, Iraq. These recent gains in territory by ISIS dictate the organizations dominant influence over the Middle East, and Syrian officials say ISIS now controls nearly half of the nation’s land.

A report in the Times of Israel stated Friday, “With their gains in Palmyra earlier Thursday, the monitor said the Jihadist now control half of Syria’s territory. The monitor [also] said ISIS’s control of Al-Tanaf, means Syrian government forces have lost control over the porous border.”

Further included in the Israeli article, are testimonies of Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, withdrawing troops from the city with little to no resistance, allowing ISIS to  waltz in and declare the major city theirs.

In the midst of acquiring the towns of Palmyra and Al-Tanaf, ISIS allegedly executed 17 people, claiming they were working for the Assad regime, only parading the extent of their inhumane and barbaric practices.

Michael Pregent, a U.S. and foreign military analyst, insisted that, “Iran needs the threat of ISIS and sunni jihadist groups to stay in Syria and Iraq in order to become further entrenched in Damascus and Baghdad.

The capture and potential ransacking of these recently acquired towns by ISIS, alarms not only locals, but major organizations like UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), who seek to preserve the cities’s historical significance as the “Birthplace of human civilization.”

Vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Jonathan Schanzer, recognized the falling of Iraq’s city, Ramadi, to ISIS, as, “An opportunity for Iran to come in with their militia’s and take over.”

Source: Institute for the Study of War