In Syria’s Desert, Palmyra Fights for Its Life

In Syria’s Desert, Palmyra Fights for Its Life

A faint silhouette in the golden haze of the Badiya, Syria’s central desert, Palmyra emerges, her beauty barely visible through the sandstorm that blurs the horizon. It is only when one draws near that the battered remains of the city begin to materialize. First, the lonely Qalat ibn Maan fortress, standing vigil over a ravaged plain, then the crumbling colonnades of the ancient city and the sun-scorched buildings of a modern town, emptied of it…