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UN chief welcomes Palmyra liberation from Daesh militants

Arab World Materials 28 March 2016 05:28 (UTC +04:00)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday said that the liberation of Syria's Palmyra from the Islamic State militants is a happy event, important for the preservation of cultural values of the city
UN chief welcomes Palmyra liberation from Daesh militants

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday said that the liberation of Syria's Palmyra from the Islamic State militants is a happy event, important for the preservation of cultural values of the city, the United Nations said, Sputnik reported.

The Syrian army confirmed Sunday that it had liberated the historic city of Palmyra from the Islamic State terrorist group with support of national aviation and Russian Aerospace Forces.

"We are encouraged and fortunate that the Syrian Government Forces have been able to retrieve, defeat IS from Palmyra and are now able to preserve and protect these human common cultural assets. And I am also encouraged by their announcement that they will try to not preserve or protect, but trying to restore. I hope they will be able to do that," the UN said in a read-out statement published on its website.

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that international experts would be able to start working on preservation and reconstruction of Palmyra right after the end of demining operations.

Palmyra and its historic ruins have been under IS control since May 2015. The jihadist group, which is outlawed in many countries, including Russia and the United States, has since destroyed part of the ruins, which are a designated UNESCO World Heritage site.

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