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On Thursday, Syrian soldiers and their allies have advanced within a kilometer of Palmyra.The ancient city fell to the Islamic State during May last year. USA TODAY
This file photo released on Sunday, May 17, 2015, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows the general view of the ancient Roman city of Palmyra, northeast of Damascus, Syria.(Photo: Uncredited, AP)
The Syrian army closed in on the Islamic State-controlled city of Palmyra on Thursday, according to media reports.
Speaking from the nearby city of Homs, Gov. Talal Barazi told The Associated Press that the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>army identified<span style="color: Red;">*</span>three directions from which to storm Palmyra and was clearing all roads leading to it<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of mines and explosives.
“We might witness in the next 48 hours an overwhelming victory in Palmyra. The army is advancing in a precise and organized way to protect what is possible of monuments and archaeological sites.”<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he said.
USA TODAY
Voices: Amid Palmyra atrocities, reasons for hope
Since seizing the historic city in May, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has destroyed a number of ancient monuments at the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Greco-Roman site. The group controls vast swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
The militants have destroyed the tower tombs of Palmyra, which date from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>100 A.D.,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>including the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>four-story Tower of Elahbel, the most prominent example of Palmyra's funerary monuments. The extremists also beheaded archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad, a caretaker at the Palmyra site and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>destroyed the 2,000-year-old<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Temple of Bel.
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