Palmyra offensive (May 2015)
2015 military operation of the Syrian Civil War
The Palmyra offensive of May 2015 was a military operation launched during the Syrian Civil War by the Islamic State (IS) on May 13–26, 2015, in an attempt to capture the government-held Tadmur District of the Homs Governorate, including the administrative centre of Tadmur, known in English as Palmyra. The ruins and ancient monuments of Palmyra, which lie on the south-western fringe of the modern city, have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980. The ruins were part of a desert oasis that was one of the most significant cultural centers of the ancient world, linking the civilizations of Persia, India, China with the Roman Empire through trade. The offensive was one of the largest offensives launched by ISIL, the largest one conducted by ISIL in Syria since the 2014 Eastern Syria offensive, with the result of the offensive increasing ISIL's control of Syria to at least 50%.
The offensive
Initial ISIL advance
On 13 May 2015, ISIL took advantage of the military's redeployment the day before to Idlib province, where ongoing fighting was taking place, and launched a two-pronged offensive towards Palmyra and its military sites, including Station 3 and the large weapon depots. The operation started on the outskirts of Al-Sukhnah, northeast of Palmyra. The militants captured al-Thinayya checkpoint at the northern entrance to the town, after which they advanced into major parts of Al-Sukhnah, with fighting taking place at the main police station, the headquarters of the Ba'ath Party and the National Hospital. This caused a state of panic among civilians in Palmyra and raised concerns about the possibility of ISIL attacking the nearby archaeological monuments. In the end, ISIL took control of Al-Sukhnah, giving them control over a strategic highway linking Homs with the Deir ez-Zor Governorate to the northeast.
After the capture of Al-Sukhnah, ISIL took all the Syrian Army posts between it and Palmyra.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Palmyra offensive (May 2015)” as 2015 military operation of the Syrian Civil War. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19926256. Authority coordinates are 34.560, 38.267. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2015, 1980 and 2014.
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