Palmyra offensive

US-backed forces have repelled a raid by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group targeting barracks housing American and French troops in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Aug. 18.

Historic artifacts have survived throughout Syria's rich history but have taken its place amongst an array of those damaged during the six-year war in the country. 

The ancient city of Palmyra, which was seized and destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2015, had swung back under the Syrian government's control early March. 

Syrian troops seized a suburb of the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Sept. 17, tightening the noose around Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a Syrian military source said.

The army pushed into the city this month with the help of Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, breaking an ISIL siege of an enclave there that had lasted three years.

Daesh (IS/ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State) terrorist fighters had attacked the Syrian armed forces at the same time and in the same vicinity as the US missile strike on its airfield near Homs, an informed source told Sputnik on Friday.

Syria's army said on March 17 it shot down an Israeli plane that had been carrying out pre-dawn raids on a military target near Palmyra, the famed desert city it recently recaptured from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). However, Israeli officials denied the claim, saying all jets had returned to their base safely.

Syria's army said on March 17 it shot down an Israeli plane that had been carrying out pre-dawn raids on a military target near Palmyra, the famed desert city it recently recaptured from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). However, Israeli officials denied the claim, saying all jets had returned to their base safely.

Isis has been driven out of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra for a second time under three months after jihadis retook their former stronghold.

The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, claimed the Syrian army had fully recaptured the militant stronghold on Thursday, although monitors said air strikes and clashes were ongoing.

BELGRADE - A Syrian Arab Army (SAA) officer informed Al-Masdar News on Monday evening that the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham" ( Daesh / ISIS / ISIL / IS ) has begun withdrawing from the western countryside of Palmyra after suffering a significant number of casualties over the last three weeks.

Illustration - Photo: Al-Alam

BELGRADE - Syrian government forces managed to evacuate some 80 percent of Palmyra population, the fate of the rest is cause for concerns, Homs Governor Talal Barazi announced.

"Some 80 percent of Palmyra residents have been evacuated, we are concerned with the fate of those who are remaining there," Barazi said in a statement on Sunday.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants and Syria's Russian-backed army fought over the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on Dec. 11, with both sides claiming the upper hand. 

Russia said its jets had helped force the militants out of the city center overnight, and its allies in the Syrian army were now fighting off another assault by the hardline Islamists.