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Fight against Islamic state

Palmyra is under Syrian army’s fire control — Damascus source

Earlier on Wednesday, the Al Joumhouria newspaper reported on its website that the advance detachments of the Syrian government army had entered the outskirts of the historical town of Palmyra

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, March 23 /TASS/. Palmyra is under the Syrian army’s fire control, a government source in Damascus told TASS by telephone on Wednesday.

"The Syrian troops are doing everything possible to gain full control of Palmyra. But pockets of resistance still remain in separate places," the Damascus government source said.

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"Fighting continues. However, we can say that the Syrian army has already established fire control over Palmyra," the source went on to say.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Al Joumhouria newspaper reported on its website that the advance detachments of the Syrian government army had entered the outskirts of the historical town of Palmyra.

Militants from the Islamic State terrorist group (which is banned in Russia) seized Palmyra early in the summer of 2015. The Syrian authorities warned at that time that the unique historical complex could repeat the sad fate of the ancient Iraqi cities of Ashur and Nimrud, which had been fully ruined and eliminated by insurgents.

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