Tadmor is in plain sight, even a map isn’t needed. You can see the ancient citadel and the residential part of the city. However, no one lives there yet. There is no water and electricity, the houses were destroyed during the fighting. To the right, there is the historical part of Palmyra. The militants of so-called ISIS destroyed the temples of Bel and Baal Shamin, the Valley of the Tombs, the Triumphal Arch, the Lion of Allat statue, Tetrapylon, and partly the Roman amphitheater.

Experts, who could help to assess the scale of destruction and say when it is possible to restore the unique monuments of ancient architecture, can’t come here. Mine clearance is not over yet, and military operations continue near the city. After the Syrian military, with the support of Russian specialists, freed Palmira from the militants of the pseudo-caliphate, they began to expand the security zone around the ancient city.





A week ago, the militants were, in fact, on the outskirts of the ancient city. Now the terrorists are thrown ten kilometers away from Tadmor. The highway from Palmyra to Damascus. The forward military position of the soldiers of the Syrian army in the south of Palmyra. The militants retreated from here and left their observers on the ridge opposite. At night they conduct reconnaissance. After the defeat at Palmira, the terrorists of ISIS seem to have taken a break. They are trying to regroup and form a line of defense in order to stop the retreat. On their own advanced positions, they have small groups without heavy weapons. They are afraid of the artillery and tanks fire of governmental forces. Lieutenant Basil and his subordinates have been here for only a few days. The officer understands that it is necessary to strengthen the defense. Despite the fact that the tension has deteriorated, the militants of the pseudo-caliphate are capable of quick and professional attacks.

During the next day, we will finish the engineering work on the strongpoint in order to protect the personnel from possible attacks of terrorists. We will mine the access to our positions. We can’t allow the militants to break through to Palmyra again. To prevent the breakthroughs of suicide bombers on cars that are stuffed with explosives, at each base station there are grenade launchers and detachments of anti-tank missile systems. In the north of the city, the situation is more complicated. There are deposits of minerals, and it appears the militants need to control this area more than Palmira. Here, the Islamists use difficult terrain and maintain positions on the heights with few forces. On the streets of Palmyra, there are anti-tank mines and landmines, which were installed by the militants. In the areas where EOD specialist have already finished work, the Syrian military are removing blockages and barricades. The Palmira Museum was destroyed and looted more than a year ago, when the terrorists of ISIS took over the city for the first time. The citadel of Tadmor was also heavily damaged during the tank fire of militants. They actually shot at point-blank range at the ancient walls both when they attacked the positions of governmental forces, and when they retreated from the city.

At the same time with these events, a double terrorist attack took place in Damascus, which killed more than 70 people and injured over one hundred. The victims were Shiite pilgrims from Iraq and Iran, and soldiers of the Syrian army, who were nearby. To carry out the attack, the terrorists chose the Shiite-revered Bab Al-Saghir cemetery. It is not surprising that the Sunni radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir, led by the leaders of Al-Qaeda's former branch in Syria Jebhat-an-Nusra, took responsibility for the barbaric killing.