NATION/WORLD
Saturday, April 2, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 9A
Ancient town bears scars of IS destruction
PALMYRA, Syria (AP) —
Explosions rocked the ancient town
of Palmyra on Friday and on the
horizon, black smoke wafted behind
its majestic Roman ruins, as Syrian
army experts carefully detonated
hundreds of mines they say were
planted by Islamic State militants
before they Àed the town
An Associated Press crew
visiting the town Friday witnessed
¿rsthand the destruction inÀicted by
the extremist group on the town’s
famed archaeological site, less than
a mile away from the modern-day
town of the same name, now
completely deserted
While some parts of the site,
including the Roman-era grand
colonnades
and
amphitheater
appeared relatively untouched, the
damage was very much visible
elsewhere
The remarkable Arch of
Triumph, built under the Roman
emperor Septimius Severus between
A' 1 and A' 211, has been
reduced to a pile of stones, blown
up by IS extremists who ¿lmed the
destruction for the world to see The
monumental arch once sat atop the
famed colonnaded streets of the
ancient town
The Temple of Baalshamin and
parts of the Temple of Bel, one of
the best-preserved Roman-era sites,
are also destroyed
Apart from the Roman ruins
themselves, heavy damage could be
seen on parts of the walls of Palmy-
ra’s towering Mamluk-era citadel,
built during the Islamic conquest
in the 1th century On top of the
scarred citadel, a Syrian Àag Àies in
the wind
Palmyra is located about 155 155
miles east of 'amascus, the Syrian
capital *overnment troops, backed
by allied militiamen and Russian
airstrikes retook the town on
Sunday from IS militants who had
controlled Palmyra and its environs
for 10 months
Ancient Palmyra is a UNESCO
heritage site — an archaeological
gem that attracted tens of thousands
of tourists every year
It was completely deserted on
Friday, except for Syrian army
soldiers working on dismantling
explosives and visiting journalists
The town — about a kilometer away
from the ruins — is completely
deserted, its remaining residents had
Àed as the Syrian army’s offensive
against IS began a month ago
AP Photo
A photo shows the famous Roman Theater at the ancient city of Palmyra , Syria, on April 2. An Associated Press crew visiting the town
Friday witnessed firsthand the destruction inflicted by the extremist group on the town’s famed archaeological site, less than a mile
away from the modern-day town of the same name, now completely deserted.
“They booby-trapped
everything .... trees,
doors, animals.”
— A Syrian officer, on the
retreating IS troops
SANA via AP
This photo released March 27 by the Syrian official news agency
SANA, shows a general view of Palmyra citadel, central Syria.
Traces of the ¿ghting could be
seen all around Burned cars parked
on the side of the road, electricity
cables strewn about on the streets,
and scattered empty water tanks
apparently used as barricades
At the entrance to the Roman
amphitheater, where IS ¿lmed
children shooting captive Syrian
soldiers in the head, black graf¿ti is
BRIEFLY
Obama urges more action on
nuclear security, terror
After 10 days, Brussels airport
remains closed to passengers
WASHIN*TON (AP) — World leaders
declared progress Friday in safeguarding
nuclear materials sought by terrorists and
wayward nations, even as President Barack
Obama acknowledged the task was far from
¿nished
Closing out a nuclear security summit,
Obama warned of a persistent and harrowing
threat: terrorists getting their hands on a
nuclear bomb He urged fellow leaders not to
be complacent about the risk of catastrophe,
saying that such an attack by the Islamic
State or a similar group would “change our
world”
'espite their calls for further action, the
roughly 50 leaders assembled announced
that this year’s gathering would be the last
of this kind This year, deep concerns about
terrorism were the commanding focus, as
leaders grappled with the notion that the next
Paris or Brussels could involve an attack
with a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb
So far, no terrorists have obtained a
nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb, Obama
said, crediting global efforts to secure
nuclear material But he said it wasn’t for
lack of the terrorists trying: Al-Qaida has
sought nuclear materials, IS has deployed
chemical weapons and extremists linked to
the Brussels and Paris attacks were found to
have spied on a Belgian nuclear of¿cial
BRUSSELS (AP) — Struck by suicide
bombers 10 days ago, the airport known as
“the heart of Europe” has stopped beating
temporarily, causing headaches for thousands
of business and vacation travelers, and
painful ¿nancial losses for Belgium’s capital
and tourism industry
It’s still unclear when Brussels Airport
will reopen But a key hurdle appeared to
have been cleared Friday evening when
police unions, which had threatened a strike,
reached a preliminary deal with government
negotiators on how to bolster security to
minimize more violence The agreement,
which must be formally approved by both
sides, calls in part for hiring 200 additional
airport police of¿cers, said Stephane
'eldicque, an of¿cial with the CSC Public
Service Union
A Belgian government of¿cial, speaking
on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to make public statements, told
The Associated Press things now appeared
on track for passenger service to resume at a
reduced level on Sunday morning
Patrick Bontinck, general manager of
9isit Brussels, the of¿cial municipal tourist
organization, said hotel reservations have
dropped by half since the March 22 attacks at
the airport and the Brussels Metro, meaning a
loss of ,000-10,000 visitors a day to the city
Celebrating Gloria Rossi
After 39 years in banking, Gloria is retiring.
All of us at the Banner Bank would like to
say congratulations, Gloria, and thanks for
the wonderful memories.
sprayed on a stone wall
“Lasting and Expanding,” it read
in Arabic, a logo of the Islamic State
group “The Islamic State” is scrib-
bled on another nearby wall
A Syrian of¿cer told reporters
that more than ,000 mines have so
far been dismantled “They booby-
trapped everything, trees, doors,
animals,” he said, speaking of the
militants Russian sappers have
arrived in Syria to help the Syrian
army clear mines in the town
Later Friday, Syria’s state-run
SANA news agency reported that
Syrian engineering teams and
popular defense groups uncovered a
mass grave in a northeastern neigh-
borhood of Palmyra containing the
remains of about 0 people
The report, which could not be
independently veri¿ed, said the
people were killed by IS extremists
It said some bodies were beheaded,
others bore signs of torture
The recapture of Palmyra was a
strategic coup for President Bashar
Assad through which he hopes to
convince the West that the Syrian
army is a credible partner in combat-
ting terror as it ramps up the ¿ght
against the Islamic State
“The Syrian army is defending
Rome and London in as much as it
is defending 'amascus,” another
of¿cer told the visiting reporters
Friday Both of¿cers spoke on
condition of anonymity because
they were not authorized to give
statements to media crews
He handed reporters a booklet
he said the militants had apparently
distributed to Palmyra residents
It reads: “Loyalty to Islam, not to
the nation”
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ARE
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Saturday, April 9 • 11am-2pm
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