Syrian forces enter Daesh-controlled Palmyra
Last updated at 1800 GMT, March 1, 2017
Syrian army forces have reportedly entered the ancient city of Palmyra, which fell to the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group for a second time a few months ago.
"The army has entered a western neighborhood of Palmyra and has seized control of part of it," Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, a Hezbollah media report said the Syrian army forces and their allied fighters had recaptured the Palmyra Citadel, situated on the city's western outskirts.
The Syrian troops also managed to retake a palace complex to the city's southwest, the report added.
Earlier in the day, an unnamed Syrian military source told Reuters that the Syrian troops, backed by Russia’s air cover, had advanced to the outskirts of Palmyra, also known in Arabic as Tadmur, in the last few days and their “entry to the city will begin very soon."
The developments came on the same day as the Syrian military announced the recapture of an area called the "Palmyra triangle" a few kilometers west of the city.
Meanwhile, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported that the gain followed fierce clashes between Daesh militants and the Syrian army and its allied fighters, leaving scores of the terrorists dead or injured.
Additionally, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the government forces were expected to storm Palmyra at "any moment.”
Russia has also expressed its readiness to deploy aircraft in support of the Palmyra operation.
The Syrian army, backed by Russia’s counter-terrorism airstrikes, liberated Palmyra in March 2016 after Daesh held the city for 10 months.
However, Daesh managed to seize the historic city once again in December 2016 after days of intense fighting as the Syrian military focused mainly on defeating terrorist groups in eastern Aleppo.
During both of its spells in control of Palmyra, Daesh razed ancient monuments and dismantled key parts of the city's UNESCO World Heritage ruins.
The Syrian forces have been fighting different foreign-backed militant groups wreaking havoc in the Middle Eastern country since 2011.
Over the past few months, troops have made sweeping gains against Takfiri terrorists who have lately increased their acts of violence across Syria following a series of defeats in Aleppo and elsewhere.
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