Kremlin blames lack of US cooperation for Palmyra blow

The Kremlin on Monday deplored the lack of cooperation with the United States in Syria’s famed ancient city of Palmyra after Daesh terrorists re-entered the ancient Syrian city at the weekend.
“We regret that we have yet to completely neutralize their offensive,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the militants return to the fabled city after an eight-month absence.
“We also regret that there still is a lack of coordinated action and real cooperation with other states — with the United States first and foremost — that do not want to cooperate, and this cooperation could allow us to avoid such attacks by terrorists.”
Peskov added that radical terrorists from neighboring Iraq, where a Western coalition is supporting the Iraqi military’s efforts to retake the city of Mosul from Daesh, had been flooding into Syria.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that its war planes had carried out more than 60 overnight strikes on Palmyra, claiming to have “thwarted all terrorist attacks” on the city.
Daesh’s surprise recapture of Palmyra has given the terrorist group an important propaganda boon as it comes under attack elsewhere.
The group began an assault on government positions in Homs province, where Palmyra is located, last week.
It quickly overran army checkpoints and seized oil and gas fields until it reached the city’s edge.
The terrorists briefly entered the city on Saturday before being forced to withdraw after government ally Russia launched intense airstrikes.
But despite the raids and the arrival of Syrian regime’s army reinforcements, Daesh seized control of the city hours later, a monitoring group and the terror-linked Amaq news agency said.
Experts said several factors explained Daesh’s shock recapture of the city, including its isolated location in the eastern desert of Homs province, where the group was able to overrun territory quickly.
“The geography of the city, which is surrounded by mountains, makes it very difficult to defend,” said Romain Caillet, an expert on terror groups.
Government and Russian forces, on the offensive elsewhere in Syria, may also have been vulnerable to a surprise attack, a favored Daesh tactic.
“One of the key things Daesh is very good at is launching surprise attacks from desert positions,” said Charlie Winter, a senior fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence at Kings College London.
“They have a high level of operational security so they are able to essentially launch shock attacks and gain lots of ground.”
Despite its relatively small size, Palmyra is considered symbolically important and of international interest because of its ancient ruins, which are a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Daesh ravaged the ruins during the 10 months it held Palmyra from May 2015 to March 2016, systematically blowing up ancient temples in attacks that provoked worldwide horror.
Russian forces played a key role in Palmyra’s capture, which Moscow celebrated by flying in Russian musicians to perform a classical concert in the city’s ancient theater, where Daesh had staged mass executions of government troops.
Daesh’s win in Palmyra at the weekend comes as the terror group faces major offensives against its two most important bastions — Syria’s Raqqa city and Iraq’s Mosul.
In both cities, the group has been forced to issue daily denials about its losses, so the Palmyra advance gives it a chance to change the narrative, Winter said.
“It really feeds their ability to engage in a triumphalist propaganda frenzy... They want to show that they are still a potent military actor,” he said.
The group’s fighters have continued to push forward, advancing Monday toward Al-Qaryatain, a village that the radical terrorists also ravaged during an eight-month rule.
But they have come under heavy Russian airstrikes, and it was unclear how long they could hold on to the territory they have captured in recent days.
Winter said Russia and Damascus were likely to push hard to force Daesh out of Palmyra, “because it is a symbolically potent site.”
But with key battles raging elsewhere, mainly government operations to recapture rebel east Aleppo, a major push to expel Daesh could be delayed until more resources are available.
Caillet said Daesh would continue pushing to take additional territory.
“It’s a mistake to think that they will stop at local objectives, they will continue to the maximum of their abilities, even if their operations... sometimes appear irrational,” he said.
“With their capture of Palmyra, despite Russian bombardment, hard-liners’ morale has been boosted for at least another six months,” he added.

Source: Arab News