BEIRUT // ISIL blew up a major prison complex in the central Syrian city of Palmyra, according to a group monitoring the war, destroying an important symbol of government control in the city now held by extremists.
The prison was empty of people at the time of the detonation, said Rami Abdulrahman from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. ISIL announced the explosion in a statement on social media and supporters posted pictures of huge clouds of grey smoke above the sprawling complex in the city, also known as Tadmur.
Syrian state media did not mention the explosion.
The prison is not located among the city’s ancient ruins, which Syrian officials have warned could be destroyed ISIL.
But the militants, who captured the city from government forces earlier this month, are not reported to have harmed its 2,000-year-old monuments and the prison explosion is the first report of major destruction since the takeover.
The Observatory said this week that ISIL had however shot dead around 20 men in the city’s ancient amphitheatre, accusing them of being pro-government.
It was not immediately clear when the prisoners had left their cells. Pictures posted by ISIL on social media this week showed empty cells, a collective detention room and a management office inside the prison.
Detailed information about inmates and conditions inside the high security prison is rare. A 2001 Amnesty International report, based on the accounts of former inmates, described the prison as “designed to inflict the maximum suffering, humiliation and fear on prisoners.”
It said Lebanese, Palestinians, Jordanians, and Iraqis were also believed to have been detained in Syrian prisons, including in Palmyra.
Former war crimes prosecutors said in January 2014 that a Syrian military police photographer had supplied evidence showing the systematic torture and killing of about 11,000 detainees in Syrian jails. The Syrian government said the report was politicised and the images were fake.
*Reuters
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Anna and the Apocalypse
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Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Last five meetings
2013: South Korea 0-2 Brazil
2002: South Korea 2-3 Brazil
1999: South Korea 1-0 Brazil
1997: South Korea 1-2 Brazil
1995: South Korea 0-1 Brazil
Note: All friendlies
