Syrian government forces enter Palmyra as IS warns inhabitants to flee

Syrian troops and militia entered the historic city of Palmyra, which IS has held since May last year, after advancing to within two kilometres on Wednesday.

According to the state news agency, one Syrian official said that forces were now less than a mile from the heart of the city and roads are being cleared of mines and explosives.

The Islamic State group on Thursday called on the 15,000 or so civilians still living in Palmyra to leave the famed ancient city on Thursday as pro-government forces closed in, a monitoring group said.

"IS called on loudspeakers on civilians still in Palmyra to leave as fighting reached the outskirts of the city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It is the culmination of an offensive that the army launched at the beginning of the month with the support of intense Russian air raids.

Despite the exactions of the group, which have included public beheadings in the city's ancient amphitheatre, some 15,000 of Palmyra's 70,000 residents stayed on under IS rule, according to Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The vast majority had already fled - only those too poor to flee stayed behind," he said.

Government troops and allied militia were advancing slowly, as IS has planted explosives in the fields surrounding the city, Abdel Rahman said.

Fighting raged early Thursday on the edge of the Hayy al-Gharf neighbourhood in the southwest of the city.

The government forces were backed by strikes against IS positions by both Syrian and Russian warplanes.

"The armed forces backed by the popular defence forces continue to advance on Palmyra city, and have taken full control of Al-Tar hilltop to the west of the city," state television reported.

Meanwhile, a Russian special forces officer was killed near Palmyra, a military representative at the Russian base in Syria was quoted as saying by Russian agencies Thursday.

"An officer of Russian special operations forces was killed near Palmyra while carrying out a special task to direct Russian airstrikes at Islamic State group targets," the unnamed representative said, without giving the date of the incident.

"The officer was carrying out a combat task in Palmyra area for a week, identifying crucial IS targets and passing exact coordinates for strikes with Russian planes," he said.

"The officer died as a hero, he drew fire onto himself after being located and surrounded by terrorists," he said.

Palmyra's fall to IS sent shockwaves around the world as the militants launched a systematic campaign of destruction at its UNESCO World Heritage Site, blowing up temples and looting relics dating back 2,000 years.

Its recapture would be a strategic as well as symbolic victory for President Bashar al-Assad, since whoever controls it also controls the vast desert extending from central Syria to the Iraqi border, analysts say.

However, activists have warned that residents of Palmyra could face reprisals from the government.

“The regime will take revenge on the city - they are afraid of that,” said Mohamed Alkhateb, a spokesperson for the opposition group Palmyra Coordination.

He told Middle East Eye that the people of Palmyra were confronted with “daily bombing, killing, rocket bombardment”.

“Both the regime and IS are criminals - the regime kill more innocent people than IS,” he added.

A local coordination committee spokesperson said that the city's infrastructure and 50 percent of its neighbourhoods had been destroyed by air strikes.