Syrian armed force retakes control of the city of Palmyra from ISIS forces 12703162
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The conflict in Syria
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| Syrian armed force retakes control of the city of Palmyra from ISIS forces. | |||
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On Sunday March 27, 2016, Syrian government forces with the support of Russian air strikes recaptured Palmyra the city of Palmyra, state media and a monitoring group said, inflicting a significant defeat on the Islamic State group which had controlled the desert city since May last year.
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 Syrian pro-government forces near the city of Palmyra on March 26, 2016, during a military operation to retake the city. |
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Television footage showed waves of explosions inside Palmyra and smoke rising from buildings, as tanks and armored vehicles fired from the outskirts.
Saturday, March 26, 2016, Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said Syrian soldiers and allied militias had taken control of one-third of Palmyra, mainly in the west and north, including part of the ancient city and its Roman-era ruins. Soldiers were also fighting on a southern front. IS fighters have reportedly retreated from Palmyra – located 215 kilometers from the Syrian capital Damascus – to the towns of Sukhnah, Raqqa, and Deir Ezzor. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian warplanes carried out 158 airstrikes, hitting terrorist targets in and around the city. More than 100 extremists were killed in the bombardment, and several pieces of heavy equipment destroyed. “Russian Aerospace Forces have carried out 40 sorties in the Palmyra region,” a statement published on the Defense Ministry’s official website read, adding that “as a result...four tanks, three artillery pieces, four ammunition depots and five vehicles were destroyed.” The recapture of Palmyra marks the biggest reversal for IS since Russia's intervention into Syria. |
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