Syria: Government Troops Kill 30 IS militants in battles near Syria's Palmyra

Xinhua News | Islamic State

"Sometimes, duty demands the violent restraint of a violent man" - President George Bush

Krak des Chevaliers, Syria is a UNESCO listed
monument. (Credit: Wiki)

DAMASCUS, July 11 (Xinhua) -- China's Xinhua News reports at least 30 militants of the Islamic State (IS) group being killed during ongoing "battles with the Syrian army forces in the surrounding of the ancient city of Palmyra."

Xinhua, quoting a monitor group from Syria, Saturday said the battles in the vicinity of this millennia-old oasis city have been gaining momentum in recent days.

The report said the Syrian forces have been waging a counter-offensive to recapture Palmyra from the IS hands.

The push was however, not without its cost on the government side, which reportedly lost a total of 12 fighters, `killed during recent battles in Palmyra', the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the Syrian war said.

"On Thursday, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the Syrian forces had launched an offensive to expel the IS group from the ancient city of Palmyra in the eastern countryside of Homs province" Xinhua said.

With IS increasingly destroying heritage and historical buildings in Iraq an poised to do same in Syria, the governments fightback is seen as a welcome development.

Syria is home to six sites listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, including the old cities of Damascus and Aleppo, al-Madhiq castle, the Krak des Chevaliers, the ancient city of Bosra and Palmyra and the ancient villages in northern Syria.

Syria has many prehistoric, Greek, Byzantine and Islamic heritages. Before the crisis, Syria had attracted many multinational archaeological missions coming for searching new clues of historical facts on the development of civilizations.