CAPTURING the ancient city of Palmyra and valuable nearby gas fields was just part of the gains of Isis across Syria, which have now reached the point that the "caliphate" includes more than half of Syria's territory ("Syrian forces plan Palmyra counter", The Herald, May 25).

Indeed, Isis seems to be making gains across both Syria and Iraq, taking the major Iraqi city of Ramadi and then seizing the al-Waleed border crossing, the last crossing between Iraq and Syria that they didn't already hold.

This means that effectively Syria doesn't have a common border with Iraq anymore, and with similar losses to al-Qaeda further south, doesn't have much of a border left with Jordan either.

Though the Assad government has repeatedly downplayed the recent gains of Isis and al-Qaeda as relatively inconsequential, the fact that they've lost well over half of the country now underscores just how poorly the war is going for the government, which is watching its territory rapidly shrink into the area around Damascus and the Lebanese border.

The rise of Isis can be put down to the utter stupidity of the Tony Blair and David Cameron governments. Westminster has squandered billions of pounds on wars that the UK has lost, while the economy and living standards declined because of these wars. The neoc-onsevative warmongers responsible for this disaster still control both main UK political parties. These warmongers are driving the UK to its final defeat.

Alan Hinnrichs,

2 Gillespie Terrace,

Dundee.