In ancient Syrian city Palmyra, fear of Islamic State control intensifies

Refugee and Migrant Crisis

CCTV/ Feng Yunxian/ May 19

CCTV’s veteran war reporter Feng Yunxian followed the Syrian military into the ancient sites around Palmyra in Syria where fears are that, with the Islamic State slowing gaining ground, the terror organization will destroy ancient and historic sites as they’ve done in the past in other locations.

Feng Yunxian filed a report for CCTV’s Mandarin language news channel where she gained unprecedented access to follow the Syrian Army in ancient Palmyra to get a look at the ancient sites and the area where the Islamic State is gaining ground — and by many reports, has already captured the area. Below are gifs of some of her to show you this look at her reporting, take a look:

The area of Palmyra is a UNESCO world heritage site located Northeast of the capital Damascus. The site is considered an oasis in the Syrian desert and holds ancient ruins such as Roman aqueducts and other sites that date back some 2,000 years.

Feng pointed out a hill that is said to be the spot where Islamic State fighters started to attempt to take hold of the city.

She went into the residential part of the town there where she spoke to people living there. Some of the residents said there are already people from the area who support the Islamic State after they reportedly received financial support from the group. They told CCTV that the Islamic State was trying to get local people in Palmyra to help in navigating the area.

Syrian government fighters told Feng that they are actually worried about using heavy artillery and weapons against the Islamic State, as they don’t want to hurt citizens of the area or mistakenly destroy ancient sites. Yet as you can see here they seem to be launching some pretty powerful rockets into the air.