At a press conference in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said the United States had failed to help prevent Islamic State from overrunning Anbar Province in Iraq or from seizing Palmyra, where hundreds were killed by the marauders.
Palmyra is the site of extensive Roman ruins dating back to the third century or earlier, and is the most popular tourist attraction in Syria.
Al-Moallem acknowledged that U.S.-led fighters had blocked IS fighters from seizing Kobani in Iraq last year, but said military support seemed to have “evaporated” after that, according to the Associated Press.
Al-Moallem said cooperation between Syria’s military and the U.S.-backed Iraq army had “not reached the desired levels” for joint operations against Islamic State.
But Iraq’s military has indicated that a massive operation to recapture Anbar province is imminent, the AP said.
In related developments, Islamic State insurgents apparently have released two Christian women in their 70s who were among more than 200 Assyrians captured in February during fighting in Hassakeh province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the two were likely released because of poor health, since other captives were released previously.
Osama Edwards of the Assyrian Network for Human Rights said the Islamic State group still was holdling 210 Assyrian Christians hostage and was demanding $100,000 for each of them, the AP said.
Brig. Gen. Saad Maan Ibrahim, an Iraq military spokesman, told the AP that Islamic State was attacking his forces in western Anbar with suicide bombings that had already killed 17 troops near the militant-held city of Fallujah.
