BEIRUT: Syrian government forces backed by heavy Russian airstrikes have seized three neighborhoods inside Palmyra, a town with famed Roman-era ruins that fell to the Islamic State group last May, state media reported Saturday.
Russian jets carried out 40 air sorties near Palmyra in the past day, hitting 158 targets and killing over 100 militants, Russia’s defense ministry said.
Syrian troops and allied militiamen have taken up positions in the three neighborhoods that are part of the modern town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.
Palmyra, known as the “bride of the desert,” used to attract tens of thousands of tourists every year. IS drove out government forces in a matter of days and later demolished some of the best-known monuments in the UNESCO world heritage site.
The militants also demolished the town’s infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of Syrian government opponents were reported to have been tortured.
Retaking the town would be a major victory for President Bashar Assad’s government, which has made steady gains in recent months against IS and other insurgents.
Syria’s government has been assisted in large part by Russia’s air campaign. Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the surprise pullout of some Russian warplanes from Syria, but said that strikes against the Islamic State group and the al-Qaida linked Nusra Front will continue. Those groups have been excluded from a Russian- and U.S.-brokered cease-fire that began on Feb. 27 and has largely held.
The battle for Palmyra, now entering its fourth week according to the Observatory, has not been easy. Government forces lost at least 18 soldiers on Friday alone, including a major general, the Observatory and IS-affiliated media sites reported.
The fate of the archaeological site was not immediately clear.
The head of Syria’s antiquities and museums authority described the condition of the remaining monuments as “excellent,” with only minor damage, based on footage captured by a drone and broadcast on Russian television.
If Syrian government forces retake Palmyra, they will be positioned to advance on the two largest Syrian cities held by IS, Deir Ezzor and Raqqa.