Russia blames U.S. after ISIS recaptures Palmyra

Russia blamed a lack of United States “cooperation” for the loss of the Syrian city of Palmyra to ISIS militants over the weekend. 

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Monday that “the U.S. does not want to cooperate,” and that “cooperation would have probably allowed us to more effectively avoid such attacks from terrorists,” according to a report in The Associated Press.

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The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria recaptured the city from the regime over the weekend. Syrian regime forces, aided by the Russian military, pushed ISIS out of Palmyra in March.

ISIS first took control of the city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in May of 2015.

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces have recently been focused on taking rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo from opposition groups. As of Monday, the rebels held only 10 percent of their former territory in the city.