According to Tasnim dispatches, Syrian forces retook al-Tarr Mountain, a strategic area 3 km northwest of Palmyra Citadel and a district at the entrance to the ancient city.
They also inflicted heavy losses on Daesh (ISIL) terrorists in personnel and equipment and forced them to flee the areas.
Daesh, a Takfiri terrorist group that has occupied parts of Syria and Iraq, is believed to be supported by the West and some regional Arab countries.
The Syrian army is currently targeting Daesh positions around an ancient castle in Palmyra as a preliminary operation to liberate the castle from the terrorist group, a military source told the Tasnim News Agency.
Meanwhile, Syrian state television said government troops, backed by army air power, drove back Daesh militants and reached the “heart” of the city.
Army forces have retaken control of Palmyra’s northern hotel district as well as the farms situated west of the city, it said.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh, currently controlling parts of it.
According to a new report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.