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 The twin successes pile pressure not just on Damascus and Baghdad,
but also throw doubt on U.S. strategy to rely almost exclusively on
air strikes to defeat the Sunni Muslim movement, which is an
offshoot of al Qaeda.
Islamic State said in a statement posted by followers on Twitter it
was in full charge of Palmyra, including its military bases, marking
the first time it had taken a city directly from President Bashar
al-Assad's army and allied forces.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
Islamic State now controls more than half of Syrian territory
following four years of civil war.
The radical group has destroyed antiquities and monuments in Iraq
and there are fears it might now devastate Palmyra, an ancient World
Heritage site and home to renowned Roman-era ruins including
well-preserved temples, colonnades and a theater.
"This is the fall of a civilization," Syria's antiquities chief
Maamoun Abdulkarim told Reuters by telephone on Thursday.
"Human, civilized society has lost the battle against barbarism. I
have lost all hope."
 Clashes in the area since Wednesday killed at least 100
pro-government fighters, said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, which bases its information on a
network of sources on the ground.
Islamic State said retreating pro-government forces had left behind
many dead, but gave no precise figures.
The assault on the city is part of a westward advance by Islamic
State that is adding to pressures on Assad's overstretched army and
pro-government militia, which have also recently lost ground in the
northwest and south.
"Palmyra is very strategically situated and can now be used as a
launching pad for further territorial pushes towards Homs and
Damascus," said Matthew Henman, Head of IHS Jane’s Terrorism and
Insurgency Centre, in a note.
Palmyra's fall came just five days after the Islamist group seized
Ramadi, capital of Iraq's largest province, Anbar. Fighters loyal to
the group have also consolidated their grip on Sirte in Libya,
hometown of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, extending their reach in
the region.
COUNTER-OFFENSIVE
Iraqi forces said on Thursday that they had thwarted a third attempt
by Islamic State militants to break through their defensive lines
east of Ramadi overnight.
Police and pro-government Sunni fighters exchanged mortar and sniper
fire with insurgents across the new frontline in Husaiba
al-Sharqiya, about halfway between Ramadi and a base where a
counter-offensive to retake the city is being prepared.
The loss of Ramadi handed the central Iraq government in Baghdad its
most significant setback in a year and exposed the limitations of
both the Iraqi army and a campaign of U.S.-led air strikes designed
to "degrade and destroy" Islamic State.
The United States plans to deliver 1,000 anti-tank weapons to Iraq
in June to combat suicide bombings like those that helped the
Islamist group grab Ramadi, a senior U.S. State Department official
said on Thursday.
Iraq's government has ordered Shi'ite militia, some of which have
close ties to Iran, to join the battle to retake Ramadi, raising
fears of renewed sectarian strife in the country.
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Washington has said it will support the Ramadi counter-offensive,
but says it should include both Sunni and Shi'ite forces under the
direct command of central government.
The militants in Ramadi are seeking to consolidate their gains in
the surrounding province of Anbar by pushing east towards the
Habbaniya base where Iraqi security forces and Shi'ite
paramilitaries are massing.
"Daesh is desperately trying to breach our defenses but this is
impossible now," Police major Khalid al-Fahdawi said, referring to
Islamic State. "They tried overnight to breach our defenses but they
failed. Army helicopters were waiting for them."
Habbaniya is one of only a few remaining pockets of government-held
territory in Anbar, and lies between Ramadi and the town of Falluja,
which has been controlled by Islamic State for more than a year.
Local officials say the militants want to join up the two towns and
overrun the other remaining government holdouts, strung out along
the Euphrates river valley and the border with Jordan and Saudi
Arabia.
Sabah Nouri, spokesman for Iraq's counterterrorism forces, said
forces were "flowing to Habbaniya with new lethal arms that will
help reverse the course of action against Daesh".
He said the reinforcements would allow the army to wage several
simultaneous attacks, and that regular troops would hold any
recaptured territory to allow the counter-terrorism units to focus
on maintaining an offensive.
Although Islamic State has seized large chunks of Syria, the areas
it holds are mostly sparsely inhabited. Syria's main cities,
including the capital Damascus, are located on its western flank
along the border with Lebanon and the coastline and have been the
priority for Assad's government.
In Syria's northeast, Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes
have been pressing an attack on Islamic State in Hasaka province,
which links territories held by the group in Syria with neighboring
Iraq. Scores of its members have been killed this week according to
the Observatory and a Kurdish official.
(Reporting by Sylvia Westall and Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Kinda
Makieh in Damascus, and Isabel Coles; Writing by Crispian Balmer;
Editing by Dominic Evans)
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