The Syrian Armed Forces are inching closer to fully recapture the historic city of Palmyra amid massive retreat of ISIS militants.

Having seized the strategic SyriaTel hilltop which overlooks the ancient castle of Palmyra yesterday, the government troops managed today to impose full control on the castle.

Earlier this morning, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a counteroffensive against the hotels compound located to the southwest of Palmyra.

Committing to its usual tactics, the terror group initiated the assault with sending two VBIEDs. One of them has been destroyed before reaching its target by the Syrian Armed Forces; the other went off at the entrance of one of the compound’s hotels.

Fierce clashes broke out thereafter, forcing the National Defense Forces to retreat from the area.

Only a few hours later, the defiant Desert Hawks units blitzed the area, killing most of the jihadis, some of them suicide bombers with their explosive vest still put on.

The hotels compound is an area located to the southeast of Palmyra where a few hotels have been built to host the tourists visiting the ancient city.