HMEIMIM, March 24. /TASS/. A serviceman of Russian special forces has heroically died near Syria’s Palmyra, drawing the fire upon himself, an officer from the Russian Hmeimim airbase in Syria said on Thursday.

He said the officer was killed "while performing a special task to direct strikes of Russian warplanes to IS targets near the settlement of Tadmor (Palmyra, Homs province)".

"The officer had been on a combat mission near Palmyra for a week, spotting major facilities of IS terrorists and giving exact coordinates for strikes by Russian warplanes," the officer said.

"The serviceman died heroically, drawing the fire upon himself after he had been spotted by terrorists and surrounded," he said.