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Syria wins battle of Palmyra

Beirut - Recapture opens up much of eastern border for Syrian troops

Syrian government forces drove Daesh fighters out of Palmyra on Sunday, the army said, inflicting a major defeat on the militants who seized the desert city last year and dynamited its ancient temples.
The army general command said in a statement that it had restored security and stability to the city in an operation it said showed that Daesh was beginning to retreat and collapse.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were still clashes on the eastern edge of Palmyra, around the prison and inside the airport, but the bulk of the Daesh force had withdrawn and retreated east, leaving Palmyra under President Bashar Al Assad's control.
Syrian state-run television broadcast from inside Palmyra on Sunday morning, showing largely deserted streets and several badly damaged buildings.
It quoted a military source saying Syrian and Russian jets were targeting Daesh fighters as they fled, hitting dozens of vehicles on the roads leading east from the city.
For government forces, the recapture of Palmyra opens up much of Syria's eastern desert stretching to the Iraqi border to the south and the Daesh heartland of Deir Al Zor and Raqqa to the east.
Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said 400 Daesh fighters died in the battle for Palmyra, which he described as the biggest single defeat for the group since it captured large areas of Syria and Iraq in 2014.
The Observatory said around 180 government soldiers and allied fighters were also killed in the campaign to retake Palmyra.
Daesh militants dynamited several monuments last year, and Syrian television broadcast footage from inside Palmyra museum on Sunday showing toppled and damaged statues, as well as several smashed display cases.
Syria's antiquities chief said this week that other ancient landmarks were still standing and pledged to restore the damaged monuments.
"Palmyra has been liberated. This is the end of the destruction in Palmyra," Mamoun Abdelkarim said on Sunday. "How many times did we cry for Palmyra? How many times did we feel despair? But we did not lose hope." - Reuters
Russia's intervention in September turned the tide of Syria's five-year-old conflict in Assad's favour. Despite Moscow's announcement that it was pulling out most military forces two weeks ago, Russian jets and helicopters carried out dozens of strikes daily over Palmyra at the height of the clashes.
The loss of Palmyra comes three months after Daesh fighters were driven out of the city of Ramadi in neighbouring Iraq, the first major victory for Iraq's army since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants in June 2014.
Daesh has lost ground elsewhere, including the Iraqi city of Tikrit last year and the Syrian town of Al Shadadi in February. The United States said the fall of Shadadi was part of efforts to cut Daesh's links between its two main power centres: the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria.
It follows a three-week campaign by the army and its allies on the ground, backed by intensive Russian air strikes, aimed at driving Daesh back.
, which is home to some of the most extensive ruins of the Roman empire

Terrorists beginning to retreat and collapse
> The army says it has restored security and stability to the city.
> A monitor says clashes still going on in the east of city, but bulk of fighters have withdrawn.
> A Syrian state-run television footage shows largely deserted streets and several badly damaged buildings.
> Syrian and Russian jets target Daesh fighters, hitting dozens of vehicles on roads leading east from the city.
> 400 Daesh fighters died in the battle for Palmyra.
> Around 180 soldiers and allied fighters were also killed in the battle.