Human Rights Group: With Capture of Palmyra, ISIS Controls Half of Syria

With the capture of the ancient city of Palmyra and the town of Al-Tanaf on the border with Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) now controls half of the territory in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Military analyst Michael Pregent observed that ISIS was succeeding with relatively little resistance from Iran, and concluded “Iran needs the threat of ISIS and Sunni jihadist groups to stay in Syria and Iraq in order to become further entrenched in Damascus and Baghdad.”

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Similarly, Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted after the recent fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi to ISIS that “Iran looks at this as an opportunity for them to come in with their militias and take over.”

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