Syrian government forces enter Palmyra, drive back ISIS

Islamic State group fighters withdrew from much of the Syrian oasis city of Palmyra overnight, a monitor said on Thursday, but government forces paused before entering its ravaged ancient ruins because of mines.

Russian-backed Syrian troops had pushed into a western neighbourhood of the city late on Wednesday after fierce clashes with the jihadists. By Thursday morning, IS had withdrawn to residential neighbourhoods in the east of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A Hezbollah-run media outlet earlier reported that the Syrian army and its allies had recaptured the Palmyra citadel, on the city's western outskirts, and seized a modern palatial complex to the southwest.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that reports on the war, said government forces were expected to storm Palmyra at "any moment". Russia has said its aircraft are supporting the army offensive in Palmyra.

ISIS has twice captured the ancient city of Palmyra, whose ancient ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, over the course of the six-year civil war, losing it early in 2016 only to recapture it in December.

The group has razed ancient monuments during both of its spells in control of Palmyra - destruction the United Nations has condemned as a war crime.

Before ISIS entered the city in May 2015, it boasted temples, colonnaded alleys and elaborately decorated tombs that were among the best preserved classical monuments in the Middle East. But the jihadists launched a campaign of destruction against them, the scale of which was fully revealed when government forces briefly retook the city with Russian support last year.

Satellite imagery has shown that IS has demolished more monuments since it recaptured Palmyra from government forces in December.