Syria’s government says it has driven the Islamic State out of Palmyra

Is the Syrian government captivity of Palmyra a step forward for the Syrian government? Why is Palmyra so important?

On Sunday March 27, 2016, the Syrian government seized the Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site known for its Roman-era ruins, from the Islamic State also known as ISIS. The Syrian government were able to do this thanks to the Russian’s help. The Russians withdrew troops, but Russian warplanes stayed in Syria. Putin, the Russian President, called al-Assad, the Syrian President, to congratulate him on this victory. “Taking the city helps clear a path for pro-government forces to possibly push on to Raqqa, the city in eastern Syria that is the Islamic State’s self-declared capital”. The Syrian state-run television reports the pro-government forces victory and eliminating ISIS from Palmyra. However, and activist and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, state that even though many of the ISIS’s militants withdrew, there are still clashes in the northeastern part of Palmyra. ISIS have destroyed many historical monuments just like Palmyra. The recapture of Palmyra means that ISIS is weakening in Iraq and Syria by Assad fighters and U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab forces. Syrian has received support from both Russia and United States even though they are supporting different sides of this conflict, but share the same enemy, which are the Islamic State.

The Syrian Civil War is one of the most confusing conflicts. For example, my above statement, Russia and the United States fought the same enemy even though for their own different reason. The United States are supporting the Kurds and some Arab forces from the rebels, while Russia support pro-Assad fighters. Both, US and Russia, have an interest for ISIS to go down. This was supposing to be an Arab Spring uprising; the people rebelled against the dictator and wanted democracy. However, it looks more now like a proxy war because this conflict brought regional and global power. Its really hard for other countries to stay away. For example, this Syrian conflict has created a lot of Syrian refugees to migrate especially to Europe and other countries near by. These migrations are changing the dynamic of the country; for example, some countries do not have the resources and the money to maintain all these new comers? Religion is also involved in this war. On the Shia side are the Syrian government, Iran, and Russia  support and the other side are the rebels, the Gulf states supporting, and Turkey, on the Sunni side. Additionally, there is ISIS who have strong Islamic beliefs and have strong ideas against Western ideologies and lifestyle. There are many reasons now for this conflict than what it originally was intended. 

The recapture of Palmyra means Hope for the Syrian government, but it can also just mean just a battle won. I believe ISIS is intelligent enough to know to back down, when it is outnumbered. Come on now, the US trained some of the ISIS members. The whole Syrian conflict is saddening because innocent people are dying and there is a lot of destruction just like in Palmyra. This Syrian conflict is become very confusing with many different reason toward this chaos. Its time people start looking for peace and making agreements.