Activists: Islamic State seizes more than half of Syria

The Islamic State has seized more than half of Syria after taking full control of the town of Palmyra and its ancient ruins, activists said Thursday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the extremists had seized more than 36,000 square miles of the country and had also taken control of "the vast majority" of its gas and oil fields. USA TODAY could not independently confirm the information.

The human rights group's Rami Abdurrahman said the extremists took control of the archaeological site to the southwest of Palmyra early Thursday, the Associated Press reported. The United Nations describes the site as "one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world."

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, captured the town Wednesday, after seizing the Iraqi city of Ramadi over the weekend.

A video posted online purported to show militants setting a giant poster of Syrian President Bashar Assad alight inside the prison in Palmyra and cheering. The video could not be independently verified.

Bebars al-Talawy, an activist in the central province of Homs, told the AP the militants now control the ruins at Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site famous for its 2,000-year-old Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts. Both activists said Thursday that the Islamic State has not damaged the ruins so far.

Al-Talawy said the government had recently transferred thousands of inmates from the town's prison to a jail near the capital of Damascus, but added the extremists had freed some of the prisoners who remained inside.

Syrian state television said late Wednesday that pro-government forces had withdrawn from Palmyra after evacuating most civilians there, Reuters reported.

Homs governor Talal Barazi said many of Palmyra's residents were fleeing toward the city of Homs and Damascus, and that the Syrian army was targeting Islamic State reinforcements from outside the town, according to the AP.

"We have not received any news about (the archaeological site's) destruction," he said. "We hope that there will be no massacres in the city or damage to the ruins."

The fall of the town — which is said to have a population of around 65,000 — after a week of fighting was an enormous loss to the government. Besides its historic significance, the site opens the way for the Islamic State to advance to key government-held areas, including Damascus and the Syrian coast to the south and southwest, and the contested eastern city of Deir el-Zour.

On Thursday, Syria's director of museums and antiquities, Maamoun Abdul-Kareem, told the state news agency SANA that the militants "terrorist attack" on Palmyra was to take "revenge on the Syrian society and civilization."

He said hundreds of statues were rescued when the Culture Ministry moved them to safety, but expressed concern over what would happen to the monuments and temples in Palmyra, the news agency reported. He said the town's museum suffered "minor damages" during the Islamic State's seizure of the town.

"The city is now totally controlled by gunmen and its destiny is dark and dim," Abdul-Kareem said. "We are in a state of anticipation and fear" about what will happen to "the archaeological site and the remaining artifacts in the museum," he added.

The Islamic State has demolished ancient sites that pre-date Islam in neighboring Iraq. Last month, a video emerged of militants destroying the ancient city of Nimrud, near the country's second-largest city of Mosul, using drills, sledgehammers and a bulldozer to damage ancient stone reliefs and walls, and setting off huge explosions.

A previous video posted on social media showed militants using sledgehammers to knock over artifacts at the Mosul museum and destroying ancient Nineveh gates.