Translation by Yusra Ahmed
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Details about the battle of Palmyra in which the Islamic State (ISIS) controlled the city on May 20 are published for the first time.
Zaman al-Wasl met A. Solaiman, a military employees who was at his work when the Islamic state controlled Palmyra and stayed for many days afterward.
Solaiman, mentioned that ISIS had warned the regime forces days before attacking the city.
The head of al-Badiya branch of the Military Security met prominent figures of the city of Palmyra and told them about the warning and requested them to defend their city because the regime forces cannot stop the attack on their own.
Shortly after that, the arms' store, the second biggest one in the country, and al-Amiriyah neighborhood in Northern Palmyra were attacked and controlled by ISIS, it needed only few hours to control them.
“Few clashes took place between the regime’s and ISIS’s forces after controlling the arms store and happened only at night”, Solaiman detailed.
On Thursday, the sixth day of the battle, the regime suddenly withdrew all its forces around the city and gathered In al-Badiya branch of the Military security situated in the Western part of the city, and very close the archeological area. Then the Islamic State (ISIS) gave them the final warning to leave their places or they would have been killed with car bombs, in the same time, ISIS left the route to "Wahat Tadmour" leading to desert road between Palmyra and Damascus open.
The former military employee mentioned that fighters of ISIS who attacked the city were not more than 400 one, 50 of them were from Palmyra itself and knew its ways and places.
Solaiman mentioned that Palmyra-origin ISIS’s fighters spreaded in the city’s neighborhoods since the first morning of the battle with lists of people loyal to regime and wanted to ISIS, they announced that anyone sheltered wanted people or loyal to regime would be killed with who sheltered. He mentioned that ISIS had slaughtered many people, men and women in first days of attack, one of them was the head of nurses in Tadmour Hospital because she had hiden 12 members of regime’s forces, beside the head of Baath forces after investigating with him and getting proofs of people that he was very bad and cruel with them and sent many of their relatives to prison.
In regard to the way he managed to leave Palmyra after controlling it by ISIS, he reported that he was requested to stay in his work and his salary would have been doubled to $ 400, but he refused claiming that his family were waiting for him in Damascus. He added that all employees in Water and electricity corporation were asked to stay in their jobs and their salaries would have been double of what they received from the regime.
The former employee mentioned that the very next day of controlling Palmyra, ISIS’s members provided the city with fruit and vegetables brought from Riqqa, and the automatic bakery started producing bread for only 40 Syrian pounds for a bag of bread. “But they brought a van full of veils for women”
He mentioned that he attended first Friday pray after controlling the city by ISIS, the “Imam” was European but fluently spoke Arabic, and the speech was about forgiveness and spreading peace and security among people.
Solaiman mentioned that dozens of regime’s members were killed, especially in the archeological city and their body were left till they decayed. He mentioned that most killed members were from the National Defence Forces, (NDF) and others loyal to regime either women or men. He confirmed that accusation was mentioned for each killed member before execution.
In a relevant content, many regime’s loyalists expressed their anger with the way regime dealt with the fate of its soldiers and officers after ISIS controlled al-Shikhneh town on 14th May.
According to information on loyalists facebook pages, they mentioned that after 20 days of the battle, regime started sending letters to soldiers’ families telling them about their missing sons.
Families accused the regime of letting their sons down and not rescuing them when they requested support, as they kept fighting ISIS until they run out of ammunition.
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Details about the battle of Palmyra in which the Islamic State (ISIS) controlled the city on May 20 are published for the first time.
Zaman al-Wasl met A. Solaiman, a military employees who was at his work when the Islamic state controlled Palmyra and stayed for many days afterward.
Solaiman, mentioned that ISIS had warned the regime forces days before attacking the city.
The head of al-Badiya branch of the Military Security met prominent figures of the city of Palmyra and told them about the warning and requested them to defend their city because the regime forces cannot stop the attack on their own.
Shortly after that, the arms' store, the second biggest one in the country, and al-Amiriyah neighborhood in Northern Palmyra were attacked and controlled by ISIS, it needed only few hours to control them.
“Few clashes took place between the regime’s and ISIS’s forces after controlling the arms store and happened only at night”, Solaiman detailed.
On Thursday, the sixth day of the battle, the regime suddenly withdrew all its forces around the city and gathered In al-Badiya branch of the Military security situated in the Western part of the city, and very close the archeological area. Then the Islamic State (ISIS) gave them the final warning to leave their places or they would have been killed with car bombs, in the same time, ISIS left the route to "Wahat Tadmour" leading to desert road between Palmyra and Damascus open.
The former military employee mentioned that fighters of ISIS who attacked the city were not more than 400 one, 50 of them were from Palmyra itself and knew its ways and places.
Solaiman mentioned that Palmyra-origin ISIS’s fighters spreaded in the city’s neighborhoods since the first morning of the battle with lists of people loyal to regime and wanted to ISIS, they announced that anyone sheltered wanted people or loyal to regime would be killed with who sheltered. He mentioned that ISIS had slaughtered many people, men and women in first days of attack, one of them was the head of nurses in Tadmour Hospital because she had hiden 12 members of regime’s forces, beside the head of Baath forces after investigating with him and getting proofs of people that he was very bad and cruel with them and sent many of their relatives to prison.
In regard to the way he managed to leave Palmyra after controlling it by ISIS, he reported that he was requested to stay in his work and his salary would have been doubled to $ 400, but he refused claiming that his family were waiting for him in Damascus. He added that all employees in Water and electricity corporation were asked to stay in their jobs and their salaries would have been double of what they received from the regime.
The former employee mentioned that the very next day of controlling Palmyra, ISIS’s members provided the city with fruit and vegetables brought from Riqqa, and the automatic bakery started producing bread for only 40 Syrian pounds for a bag of bread. “But they brought a van full of veils for women”
He mentioned that he attended first Friday pray after controlling the city by ISIS, the “Imam” was European but fluently spoke Arabic, and the speech was about forgiveness and spreading peace and security among people.
Solaiman mentioned that dozens of regime’s members were killed, especially in the archeological city and their body were left till they decayed. He mentioned that most killed members were from the National Defence Forces, (NDF) and others loyal to regime either women or men. He confirmed that accusation was mentioned for each killed member before execution.
In a relevant content, many regime’s loyalists expressed their anger with the way regime dealt with the fate of its soldiers and officers after ISIS controlled al-Shikhneh town on 14th May.
According to information on loyalists facebook pages, they mentioned that after 20 days of the battle, regime started sending letters to soldiers’ families telling them about their missing sons.
Families accused the regime of letting their sons down and not rescuing them when they requested support, as they kept fighting ISIS until they run out of ammunition.
Zaman Al Wasl
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.