The Fall of Palmyra Is a Strategic, Historical, and Human Loss

Tom Rogan – National Review

Palmyra is one of the great treasures of the world, a living museum for multiple civilizations, a city embodying everything that the Islamic State is not … It is a place of incredible archaeological diversity — of ancient temples and theaters — an amalgam that testifies to the magnificent complexity of Middle Eastern history. It stands as proof of the power of trade to build great civilizations from nothing …

Of course, some — like the “hair on fire” White House (Josh Earnest’s inopportune choice of words) — will likely claim that Palmyra’s fall is a transient defeat: something for the Syrians to worry about and everyone else to basically ignore. Think again. Palmyra’s loss is, unequivocally, a major problem for all of us …

Palmyra provides IS with extraordinary strategic mobility. The death cult now controls the highways that link Palmyra to the Islamic State capital in Raqqa, and to the Iraq-Syria border crossing at Al Qa’im … While the Islamic State’s defeat is indeed inevitable, President Obama’s ludicrous strategy is giving the murderers the space to spread their mayhem, as Palmyra will no doubt soon discover. And some of what they do cannot be undone.

Islamic State fighters take cover during a battle against Syrian government forces on a road between Homs and Palmyra, Syria. (The website of Islamic State militants via AP)

Our Shared Values are Lost Amid the Ruins of Palmyra

 Michael Young – The National

International consternation at the prospect that ISIL might overrun Palmyra, with its heritage site, has illustrated the warped lens through which many people have tended to view the conflict in Syria.

Though more than 200,000 people have been killed, the surge in public outrage only became evident when an archaeological location was threatened. If only we had the good fortune to be stones, many Syrians must have thought …

The anxieties over Palmyra were all the more surprising in that the public reacted with relatively little indignation to the destruction of other Syrian heritage sites, not least the old city of Aleppo. But ultimately what are ruins when human beings are being slaughtered daily in Syria, without any mercy?