ISIS Took Palmyra Because Assad Was Busy Bombing Aleppo

[TomSea]

ISIS Took Palmyra Because Assad Was Busy Bombing Aleppo
Anger online at the Syrian President for focusing on rebels in Aleppo, giving ISIS militants breathing space
By Gilad Shiloach
Dec 12, 2016 at 7:44 AM ET

There can be no greater demonstration of the true focus of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military campaign than the last month’s relentless bombardment of the city of Aleppo, which outraged the international community but also gave the Islamic State breathing space and the opportunity to take back the ancient town of Palmyra and the strategic roads it lies near.

The takeover few saw coming has enraged Syrian opposition who have been enduring endless airstrikes on eastern Aleppo by the regime and its Russian allies for weeks now. But it has also given hope and motivation to followers of the Islamic State, who see the capture of Palmyra as a clear signal that despite the battle in Mosul, the terror group is still powerful enough to overrun a city and any military resistance inside it.

“While Russia, Assad, Iran’s mullahs and Hezbollah are destroying and emptying Aleppo, ISIS gangs are advancing on Palmyra, “declared the main Twitter account of the Syrian opposition. One commenter accused Assad of ceding Palmyra to ISIS to “draw attention from the extermination and displacement of the people in Aleppo” and that “Russia and Hezbollah failed to protect Palmyra because rather than fight terrorists they fight the native people of Aleppo and elsewhere.”

Continued: http://www.vocativ.com/382985/isis-took-palmyra-because-assad-was-busy-bombing-aleppo/