ISIL captures strategic Syria-Iraq border crossing: Monitoring group
The ISIL Takfiri terrorists have seized a strategic border crossing between Syria and Iraq, a UK-based monitoring group says.
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The al-Tanf border crossing, also known as al-Waleed in Iraq, was captured by ISIL militants after the Syrian forces retreated from the site, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.
AFP also quoted Iraqi authorities as saying that the country’s army withdrew its troops from the border area.
The Tanf crossing is of great strategic importance as it links the western Iraqi province of Anbar to eastern and central Syria.
The seizure came a day after ISIL terrorists brought under their control the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in the central province of Homs.
The Takfiri militants have reportedly imposed a curfew from 5 p.m. until dawn and are now trying to track the Syrian forces trapped in the fallen city.
"The search is going from house to house, shop to shop and people on the streets have to show identity cards," said Osama al-Khatib, an activist from Palmyra who currently lives in Turkey.
The ISIL terrorists are "moving in residential areas, terrifying people and taking revenge," said Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of Syria’s Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums, confirming that "there are arrests and liquidations in Palmyra."
Earlier reports said that the Takfiri terrorists executed at least 17 people after seizing Palmyra.
There are also fears that ISIL militants ruin Palmyra's invaluable heritage site, which includes ancient temples and colonnaded streets, and a museum housing priceless artifacts.
On Thursday, the director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, called the historical city "the birthplace of human civilization.”
"It belongs to the whole of humanity and I think everyone today should be worried about what is happening," she added.
Damascus also confirmed the reports of ISIL’s manhunt in the city.
Meanwhile, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq urged the international community to help with the anti-ISIL battle, saying Takfiri terrorism is no longer a “local matter.”
"All the world will face this danger if there is not a clear strategy to fight ISIL," he said.
The Takfiri group, with members from several Western countries, controls parts of land in Syria and Iraq, and has been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations and crucifixions, against all communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.
