ISIS nears Palmyra amid fresh UNESCO fears

(ANSA) - Rome, May 20 - Islamic State (ISIS) militants have seized a third of the Syrian town next to Palmyra amid fresh warnings from UNESCO over the potential threat to one of the Middle East's greatest archaeological sites. Activists say ISIS had overrun much of the north of Tadmur after fierce clashes with government forces.
    Pro-government militia have been evacuating citizens, Syrian state media report.
    Syria's head of antiquities said the world had a responsibility to save Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Hundreds of statues had been moved to safety, but large monuments could not be moved, Maamoun Abdul Karim warned.
    ISIS militants have ransacked and demolished several ancient sites that pre-date Islam in Iraq, including Hatra and Nimrud, leading to fears they might attempt to damage or destroy Palmyra.
    Rising out of the desert and flanked by an oasis, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.
    The site, most of which dates back to the 1st to the 2nd centuries AD when the region was under Roman rule, is dominated by a grand, colonnaded street.