Syrian army advances inside Palmyra amid heavy bombardment

Syrian government forces advanced into Palmyra today with heavy support from air strikes and artillery, state media and a monitoring group said, taking control of several districts in a major assault against Islamic State fighters. Television footage showed waves of explosions inside Palmyra and smoke rising from buildings, as tanks and armoured vehicles fired from the outskirts. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was the heaviest assault in a three-week campaign by the Syrian army and allied militia fighters to recapture the desert city and open up the road to Islamic State strongholds further east. 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, he said. Syrian media and Arab television channels broadcasting from the slopes of Palmyra's mediaeval citadel, one of the last areas of high ground seized by the army on Friday, said troops had advanced inside Palmyra and had taken several neighbourhoods. The recapture of Palmyra, which the Islamist group seized...

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