Losses Mount in Half-Baked War Against Islamic State

The Post reports: “Concerns for one of the Middle East’s most renowned archaeological sites deepened Thursday after Islamic State militants swept into the historic Syrian city Palmyra, urging residents over mosque loudspeakers to turn in regime collaborators and army soldiers. The capture of Palmyra, about 130 miles northeast of Damascus, marks the Islamic State’s second significant strategic gain in the past week following the fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi west of Baghdad.” Even for this administration it is becoming increasingly ludicrous to insist the war against the Islamic state is going well.

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The loss of Palmyra is especially troubling. “The fall of Palmyra to IS, just days after the fall of Ramadi, is another body blow to the administration’s claims that its efforts to defeat the jihadi group were successful,” says Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “The fall of Palmyra is also significant from a financial perspective. IS needs to keep conquering territory in order to pillage, plunder and tax. And because of the many priceless antiquities there, it is likely that IS will be able to profit handsomely from the smuggling of these artifacts.”

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