With The Fall of Palmyra The Islamic State Now Controls 50 Percent Of Syria

FOX News: ISIS controls 50 percent of Syria after takeover of Palmyra, activists say

The Islamic State terror group now controls over half of Syrian territory after seizing the village and archaeological site of Palmyra Thursday, activists monitoring Syria's civil war said.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the Associated Press the extremists overran the archaeological site, just to the southwest of the modern settlement on Palmyra, shortly after midnight local time.

In Damascus, state TV acknowledged that pro-government forces had withdrawn from the town. A Facebook page close to ISIS published a statement Thursday, purportedly from the group, saying "the soldiers of the Islamic State" completed their control of Palmyra. The capture came after government forces collapsed, "leaving large numbers of dead whose bodies filled the streets," it said.

WNU Editor: If one includes the territory that the Islamic State now controls in Iraq, one can then say that geographically speaking, the Islamic Sate now controls a territory that is larger than what the Syrian state controls.

More News On The Fall Of Palmyra

Activists: Islamic State seizes more than half of Syria -- USA Today
Isis 'now controls half of Syria' as ancient site of Palmyra falls into terror group's hands -- The Independent
Islamic State controls half of Syrian territory: monitor -- Reuters/Aol
Islamic State takes control of Syria's Palmyra in westward advance -- Reuters
Resident: ISIS is 'everywhere,' in full control of ancient Syrian city of Palmyra -- CNN
ISIS Strengthens Its Grip on Ancient Syrian City of Palmyra -- NYT
Islamic State Claims Full Control of Syrian City of Palmyra -- WSJ