DRONE footage has unveiled what remains of the ancient city of Palmyra, which Syrian government troops recaptured in a ‘fatal blow’ to Islamic State.

The video, obtained from the Syrian Centre Military Media shows aerial views of the remains of the ancient site, Palmyra’s military airport and the town.

Parts of the 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre still remain, where Islamic State conducted public executions.

Palmyra’s temples and tombs were blown up with dynamite by IS fighters, but drone footage showed that some colonnades and structures were still in place.

The footage comes as Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes drove Islamic State fighters from Palmyra overnight, ending the group’s 10-month reign of terror over a town whose famed 2000-year-old ruins once drew tens of thousands of visitors each year.

Government forces had been on the offensive for nearly three weeks to try to retake the central town. Their advance marks the latest in a series of setbacks for IS, which has come under mounting pressure on several fronts in Iraq and Syria in recent months.

Drone footage captures Palmyra ruins Russian state television footage from Palmyra on Sunday, as well as drone video obtained from the Syrian Military Media Centre, showed aerials of what remained of the ancient city after the Islamic State group (IS) was forced from the area. Courtesy: AP

media_camera Bloodshed ... Smoke rises from a petrol station as fighting raged on between Syrian government forces and ISIS militants. Picture: SANA via AP

Gen. Ali Mayhoub announced on state TV that that the fall of Palmyra “directs a fatal blow to the ISIL, undermines the morale of its mercenaries, and ushers in the start of its defeat and retreat”. He said it lays the ground for further advances toward Raqqa, the IS group’s de facto capital, and Deir el-Zour, an eastern city it largely controls.

Troops in Palmyra are now dismantling explosive booby traps planted by IS, the station reported. State TV and a Britain-based monitoring group later reported that troops captured a military base to the east.

media_camera Major win ... Syrian soldiers take up positions in the battle to recapture Palmyra. Picture: SANA via AP

The advance marks a strategic and symbolic victory for the government, which has sought to portray itself as a bulwark against terrorism. The town was an important juncture on an IS supply line connecting its territory in central and northern Syria to the Anbar province in Iraq, where the group also holds territory.

IS lost at least 400 fighters in the battle for the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. On the government side, 188 troops and militiamen were killed.

“That’s the heaviest losses that IS has sustained in a single battle since its creation” in 2013, the director of the Britain-based monitoring group, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.

“It is a symbolic defeat for IS comparable with that in Kobane,” a town on the Turkish border where Kurdish fighters held out against a months-long siege by IS in 2014-15, he added.

media_camera On guard ... Syrian troops hold a position on the outskirts of Palmyra during a military operation to retake the ancient city from the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group. Picture: AFP

Syrian state TV hailed the government’s advance, and a local reporter spoke live from inside Palmyra, showing troops in the centre of the town. Some of the nearby buildings had been reduced to rubble.

Syrian Culture Minister Issam Khalil hailed the recapture of Palmyra as a “victory for humanity and right over all projects of darkness.” Maamoun Abdulkarim, director of the museums and antiquities department in Damascus, said Palmyra’s Great Colonnade had suffered only minor damage. “We will rebuild what you have destroyed,” he said, addressing IS.

Residents told The Associated Press that IS evacuated all of Palmyra’s civilians to other territories under its control before government forces entered the city.

“It’s joyful for people to return home. Still we are sad to see damage in this historical city,” said Sohban Eleiwi, a businessman from Palmyra now residing in Homs.

But other residents said they would not return to live under government rule.

“We don’t hate the regime any less than we hate Daesh,” said Osama Khatib, a Palmyra native who fled to Turkey three years ago after serving a jail sentence for taking part in demonstrations. “Daesh and the regime behave the same way,” he said, referring to IS by its Arabic acronym.

media_camera Brutal battle ... Syrian soldiers more than 400 Islamic State fighters. Picture: SANA via AP

Syria’s army has since vowed to follow its victory against the Islamic State group in the city of Palmyra with an advance against the jihadists in their other strongholds.

“Palmyra will be the central base to broaden operations ... against Daesh in numerous areas, primarily Deir Ezzor and Raqa,” the army said in a statement carried by state media, using an Arabic name for IS.

Islamic State captured Palmyra in May last year before driving out government forces in a matter of days and later demolished some of the best-known monuments in the UNESCO world heritage site. The group blew up two of the site’s treasured classical temples, its triumphal arch and a dozen tower tombs. The extremists believe ancient ruins promote idolatry.

It used Palmyra’s ancient amphitheatre as a venue for public executions, including the beheading of the city’s 82-year-old former antiquities chief.

media_camera Ruins ... Syrian government soldiers gather outside a damaged palace, in Palmyra, central Syria. Picture: SANA via AP

The militants also demolished the town’s infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of Syrian government opponents were reported to have been tortured.

The head of Syria’s antiquities and museums authority described the condition of the remaining monuments — including the grand amphitheatre, the market place, public baths, and a long colonnade — as “excellent,” with only minor damage, based on footage captured by a drone and broadcast on Russian television.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, head of the government’s antiquities and museums department, said civil servants are prepared to assess the monuments and plan for their restoration “as soon as we are given the green light from the Syrian army.” “We will present our studies to UNESCO so that Palmyra can once again be a world heritage site,” said Abdulkarim. “Palmyra is not just for Syrians, it is for the world.”

The oasis city’s recapture is a strategic as well as symbolic victory for President Bashar al-Assad, since it provides control of the surrounding desert extending all the way to the Iraqi border, analysts say.

media_camera ‘Fatal blow’ ... Syrian pro-government forces celebrate next to the Palmyra citadel during a military operation to retake the ancient city from the Islamic State (IS) group. Picture: AFP/Maher AL MOUNES

Government forces have advanced on a number of fronts in recent months, aided by a Russian air campaign. Moscow announced earlier this month that it would begin drawing down its forces, but said it will continue to target IS and other extremist groups.

Russian jets carried out 40 air sorties near Palmyra in a 24-hour period, hitting 158 targets and killing more than 100 militants, Russia’s defence minister said Saturday.

The government has also benefited from a U.S. and Russian-brokered ceasefire that has sharply reduced violence across the country since it took effect last month. IS and the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front are excluded from the agreement. The truce is intended to support peace talks underway in Geneva that were adjourned last week.

Syria’s conflict began a little more than five years ago with mostly peaceful protests against the Assad family’s four-decade rule. A fierce government crackdown and the rise of an insurgency plunged the country into a full-blown civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people.

media_camera Rebuilding ... Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdelkarim wants to restore and rebuild ancient buildings destroyed by IS as soon as possible. Picture: AFP/ Maher AL MOUNES

The IS group is on the back foot in Iraq and Syria, where forces on the ground have been backed by US-led air strikes against the extremists. The US-led international coalition estimates that the group has lost 40 per cent of the territory it once held in Iraq and around 20 per cent of its territory in Syria.

media_camera Advance ... The Islamic State group suffered a double setback as army troops recaptured parts of Palmyra and the Pentagon said the jihadists' second-in-command was killed in a US raid. Picture: AFP/STRINGER

On Saturday, Turkish air force jets joined coalition forces in attacking IS in northern Iraq, hours after a Turkish soldier was killed at a military base in the region from rockets fired by the extremist militants.

Although Turkish jets have struck IS positions in Syria in the past, the attack marks Turkey’s first aerial assault on the group in northern Iraq.

Ground forces in Iraq have been working to build on recent gains in Anbar province and preparing for an offensive on the northern city of Mosul, the largest city held by IS militants.

The Islamic State group has responded to territorial losses by launching a series of large attacks targeting civilians.

Originally published as Drone reveals what’s left of Palmyra