At least 26 pro-Government fighters were killed battling the Islamic State group near Palmyra on on Monday as Damascus stepped up a bid to recapture the ancient city, a monitoring group said.
“ISIS thwarted an offensive by Syrian regime loyalists as they pressed an advance some four kilometres (two and a half miles) from Palmyra, and at least 26 fighters were killed,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “Warplanes believed to be Russian meanwhile struck parts of Palmyra city and its surroundings in the east of Homs province, as well as Al-Qaryatain in the southeast.” ISIS seized Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the “Pearl of the Desert”, in May last year, sending shock waves around the world.