Syria carries out heavy air strikes against IS in Palmyra

Syrain government carries out 25 air strikes on Islamic State-held city of Palymra, killing at 26 people including 12 militants. 

The Syrian government launched one of its heaviest bombardments on the city of Palmyra, held by the Islamic State militant groups.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Syrian war planes  carried about 25 air strikes on the city, leaving at least 26 people dead, including 12 IS militants.

IS captured Palymra, which includes a Unesco World Heritage Site, back in May and have since destroyed several historic artifacts within the city, including two main temples and three funerary towers.

Unesco's director-general Irina Bokova has described the systematic destruction of the city as a "war crime".

Elsewhere on Saturday, air strikes on Idlib – a stronghold of an alliance of Islamist groups calling itself the Army of Conquest – killed 17 people.

The strikes come a day after Syrian air force jets heavily attacked Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State.

Syrian military sources quoted by Reuters have said that Syria is using new types of very accurate weapons supplied by its ally, Russia. A spokesperson for Russian president Vladimir Putin confirmed that Moscow would consider sending troops to fight IS in Syria if Damascus were to ask for them.