Tadmur District

US-backed forces have repelled a raid by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group targeting barracks housing American and French troops in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Aug. 18.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that Islamic State killed at least 128 people in a Syrian town in central Homs over a three-week period before the Syrian army recaptured it on Saturday.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian government officials or state media on the report by the Observatory, a Britain-based war monitor.

The air forces of the US-led coalition are working to undermine the anti-terrorist efforts of the Syrian government, Colonel General Sergey Surovikin of the Russian ground forces has said.

Photo: Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresensky

The Serbian armed forces want to take part in the mine clearance operations in Syria, including in Palmyra, Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Djordjevic said after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu.

Syria's army said on March 17 it shot down an Israeli plane that had been carrying out pre-dawn raids on a military target near Palmyra, the famed desert city it recently recaptured from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). However, Israeli officials denied the claim, saying all jets had returned to their base safely.

Syria's army said on March 17 it shot down an Israeli plane that had been carrying out pre-dawn raids on a military target near Palmyra, the famed desert city it recently recaptured from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). However, Israeli officials denied the claim, saying all jets had returned to their base safely.

Isis has been driven out of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra for a second time under three months after jihadis retook their former stronghold.

The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, claimed the Syrian army had fully recaptured the militant stronghold on Thursday, although monitors said air strikes and clashes were ongoing.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants and Syria's Russian-backed army fought over the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on Dec. 11, with both sides claiming the upper hand. 

Russia said its jets had helped force the militants out of the city center overnight, and its allies in the Syrian army were now fighting off another assault by the hardline Islamists. 

B92 reporter Aleksandra Godfroa is in Palmyra and will over the next week file reports from this Syrian town.

A Syrian official said May 17 that the situation is "fully under control" in Palmyra despite breaches by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants who pushed into the historic town a day earlier.