Al Qaduli
Damascus - Syrian troops recapture ancient citadel in Palmyra.
Published: Sun 27 Mar 2016, 9:57 PM
The Daesh group suffered a double setback on Friday as the Pentagon said the militants' second-in-command was killed in a US raid and Syrian army troops recaptured the ancient citadel in Palmyra.
Pentagon chief Ashton Carter announced the killing of Abd Ar-Rahman Mustafa Al Qaduli, described as Daesh's second-in-command, in a US air raid in Syria.
"The removal of this...leader will hamper the ability for them to conduct operations inside and outside of Iraq and Syria," Carter told reporters.
The fresh gains in Palmyra by Syrian troops backed by allied militia and Russia came a year after Daesh overran Unesco's world heritage site.
"Our armed forces, in coordination with the popular defence forces, have taken control of the ancient Palmyra citadel after inflicting many losses in the ranks of the terrorist group Daesh," Syrian state television said.
The group had taken over the citadel on May 23 last year and raised its flag over it. The group has since blown up Unesco-listed temples and looted relics that dated back thousands of years, and murdered former antiquities chief in Palmyra, Khaled Al Assaad.The regime advance came after US Secretary of State John Kerry and President Vladimir Putin agreed to intensify the drive for a political settlement in Syria.
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