Regime troops were locked in heavy fighting yesterday with the Islamic State group in central Syria, where they dealt the militants a major blow by seizing the ancient city of Palmyra.
Just two days after seizing Palmyra from IS, pro-government fighters advanced southwest towards the militant-held town of Al-Qaryatain, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
They captured a series of strategic hilltops overlooking the town, said the Britain-based monitor, backed by “intense” air strikes by both Syrian and Russian warplanes.
State news agency SANA said the army, backed by pro-government militia, had also seized rural farmland south of Al-Qaryatain as they closed in on the town.
IS had seized the strategic town in August 2015, kidnapping at least 230 people, including dozens of Christians, and razing its famed Mar Elian monastery.
The town lies on a key road linking Palmyra with the Qalamun region of Damascus province to the west.
Sunday’s capture of Palmyra, known as the “Pearl of the Desert” for its colonnaded alleyways and stunning temples, was seen as a the biggest blow so far in the war against IS in Syria.
Syria’s armed forces have pledged to strengthen their hold on Palmyra and press on towards IS’s northern bastion in Raqa as well as the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor to the east.
The militants swept into Palmyra, a Unesco-listed World Heritage Site, in May 2015 and began a campaign to destroy tombs and shrines it considers idolatrous.
The extremist group demolished the 2,000-year-old temple of Bel and also blew up the Arch of Triumph.
IS also used Palmyra’s ancient theatre as a venue for public executions and murdered the city’s 82-year-old former antiquities chief, Khaled al-Assaad.
Syria’s head of antiquities, Maamoun Abdulkarim, said that 80% of the site was still “in good shape” and the ancient ruins could be restored in five years with Unesco’s help.
But UN expert Annie Sartre-Fauriat, who belongs to a group of experts on Syrian heritage set up by Unesco in 2013, said she was “very doubtful” that would be possible.
As they retreated from Palmyra at the weekend, IS fighters planted roadside mines near some of the most celebrated ruins of the city.

Russian raids have killed over 1,000: report
Russian air strikes in Syria likely killed more than 1,000 civilians in the war-torn country during the last quarter of 2015, the Airwars monitoring group said.
The London-based group gathered media and social media reports - as well as accounts from rebel groups and non-governmental organisations - to compile a grim database detailing every known civilian casualty incident that allegedly involved Russian aircraft.