Governorates of Syria

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has executed at least 217 people, including civilians, in and around the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in the last nine days, a monitor said May 24.

ISIL fighters raised their flag over an ancient citadel in Syria's historic city of Palmyra, pictures posted online overnight by the group's supporters show Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters have raised their flag over an ancient citadel in Syria's historic city of Palmyra, pictures posted online overnight by the group's supporters showed. 

Islamic State (IS) captured the UNESCO World Heritage site of Palmyra after gaining control of the town next to the ruins of the ancient city in Syria.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, no artefacts were destroyed so far, the BBC reports.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters overran most of the historic Syrian city of Palmyra on May 20, in a blow to efforts to repel the advancing jihadists after the fall of Iraq's Ramadi.

Jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) entered the northern city limits of ancient Palmyra May 20, seizing a state security building after intense fighting, a monitor said.  

A Syrian official said May 17 that the situation is "fully under control" in Palmyra despite breaches by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants who pushed into the historic town a day earlier.
     

Syrian government troops and militia put up fierce resistance on May 17 to an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group assault on one of the jewels of the country's heritage, ancient Palmyra.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists battled Syrian troops near ancient Palmyra May 14, threatening the UNESCO world heritage site with destruction like that which it has already wreaked in Iraq, a monitoring group said.

At least 72 fighters were killed in a single day as the Syrian army battled to relieve some 250 besieged regime loyalists under rebel assault, a monitoring group said May 11.

Syrian government forces and insurgents have both committed abuses in the contested northern city of Aleppo, but some of the government's actions amount to crimes against humanity, an international rights group said May 5.