Deir al-Zour

Iraqi forces are reported to have launched an operation to recapture the last stronghold of so-called Islamic State in the country's western desert, reported BBC.

A military source told the BBC that soldiers, Anbar provincial police and Sunni Arab tribal fighters began moving on the town of Ana on Tuesday morning.

Islamic State (IS) captured the UNESCO World Heritage site of Palmyra after gaining control of the town next to the ruins of the ancient city in Syria.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, no artefacts were destroyed so far, the BBC reports.