Syrian government forces have seized three neighbourhoods inside Palmyra, a town with famed Roman-era ruins that fell to the Islamic State group last May, state media reported today.

Syrian troops and allied militiamen backed by Russian airstrikes have taken up positions in the three neighbourhoods that are part of the modern town, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.

The jihadi militants failed to demolish the Roman ruins in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra which was recaptured by pro-Government troops following a major offensive, although blood marked the scenes where the terror group murdered its victims.

Syrian government forces have seized three neighbourhoods inside Palmyra, a town with famed Roman-era ruins that fell to the Islamic State group last May

Syrian troops, pictured here making the peace signal, and allied militiamen backed by Russian airstrikes have taken up positions in the three neighbourhoods that are part of the modern town

ISIS captured the city in May 2015 and began blowing up some of the major landmarks at the UNESCO-listed world heritage site.

However, it used the 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre to conduct public executions, with the blood of the victims staining the sand.

A Russian drone flying over the 2,000-year-old amphethetre in Palmyra has filmed images believed to be large blood stains, circled, left behind from the many executions held inside the Roman-era structure by ISIS

A drone flying over Palmyra following the expulsion of ISIS showed the extent of the damage

However, some of the ancient ruins survived 10 months under ISIS control

The terrorist organisation had threatened to dynamite the entire site in what the UN said was a war crime

Syrian forces recaptured the ancient Roman ruins on Friday from ISIS after 10 months in control

Palmyra, affectionately known as the 'bride of the desert,' used to attract tens of thousands of tourists every year. IS drove out government forces in a matter of days and later demolished some of the best-known monuments in the UNESCO world heritage site. The extremists believe ancient ruins promote idolatry.

In August 2015 ISIS beheaded the city's 81-year-old chief archaeologist Khaled Asaad.

The terror group has suffered some major strategic losses in the past week, including the death of their chief finance officer Abdul Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli.

Syrian government forces advanced on Palmyra over the past week after ISIS positions around the city were pounded by Russian jets.

The ancient citadel was recaptured by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad on Friday. The citadel overlooks some of the most extensive ruins of the Roman empire. Some of the drone footage appeared to show blood stains from the battle.

Drone footage of the scene filmed following the expulsion of ISIS have shown some areas of the site have escaped destruction.

The drone flew over the 2,000-year-old amphitheatre in the heart of Palmyra, where ISIS murdered the city's chief archaeologist Khaled Asaad.

The 81-year-old archaeologist had spent 50 years working in the ancient city before it was seized by the terrorists.

It is understood ISIS tortured and then decapitated Asaad after he refused to reveal where many of the city's priceless artifacts had been hidden.

The terrorists released a photograph of Assad's body tied to a lamp post with his severed head dumped by his feet.

Many of Palmyra's temples and tombs have been dynamited by ISIS in what the United Nations described as a war crime, although drone footage on Friday showed at least some colonnades and structures still standing.

The recapture of Palmyra, which the Islamist militants seized in May 2015, would mark the biggest reversal for ISIS in Syria since Russia's intervention turned the tide of the five-year conflict in President Bashar al-Assad's favour.

The city controls routes east into the heartland of territory held by the militants, including the province of Deir al-Zor and the ISIS de facto capital, Raqqa.

The loss of Palmyra is a major setback for ISIS as it opens up the way to their headquarters in Raqqa

The Syrian Army recaptured the city after ISIS was put under intensive bombardment by the Russian air force

ISIS have been forced into a retreat across Iraq and Syria having lost some major sections of territory

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, right, will confirm the death of Abdul Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, left

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Friday an ISIS leader was killed when his car was targeted in a strike on Raqqa on Thursday night.

ISIS has launched a number of counter-strikes against Assad's forces using a number of car bombs.

Palmyra had a population of 50,000 according to a census more than 10 years ago. Those numbers were swelled hugely by an influx of people displaced by Syria's conflict, which has raged since 2011, but most fled when ISIS took over.

A soldier told Syrian state media: 'Our heroic forces are continuing to advance until we liberate every inch of this pure land.'

In August, ISIS dynamited two ancient buildings, the temples of Bel and Baal Shamin, which had stood as cultural landmarks in Palmyra for nearly two millennia. The United Nations described their destruction as a war crime.

The Syrian Army has been concentrating on fighting ISIS since a US-brokered cease fire was agreed

ISIS decapitated Palmyra's 81-year-old chief archaeologist Khaled Asaad, pictured, in August 2015

It did not identify the dead militant, but U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the United States believed it killed Haji Iman - an alias for al-Qaduli, the terrorist organisation's number two, who was in charge of the group's finances, and Abu Sarah, who Carter said was charged with paying fighters in northern Iraq.

U.S. special forces carried out the strike against Haji Iman, officials told Reuters. One of the officials said the plan was to capture, not kill, him. But after the commandos' helicopter was fired on, the decision was made to fire from the air.

'We are systematically eliminating ISIL's cabinet,' Carter told reporters at a briefing at the Pentagon, using an acronym to refer to the group.

U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the briefing the deaths reflected "indisputable" new momentum in the fight against ISIS.

The total extent of the damage to the 2,000-year-old city of Palmyra, pictured is not yet known

Palmyra was captured by ISIS in May 2015 after making significant gains across northern Syria and Iraq

However, Syrian troops are now back in control of the ancient city having driven out ISIS

Iraq's military said on Friday that Iraqi Yazidi and tribal fighters had taken a border area in the Sinjar region next to Syria from ISIS, cutting an important supply line for the militants.

U.S. officials said they were helping Iraqis prepare for a major operation in Mosul to take back more territory from the militant group.

The scale of Friday's fighting for Palmyra reflected how much of a strategic prize the city represents, with jets launching dozens of air strikes and soldiers firing mortar barrages, while ISIS fighters hit back with two car bombings.

Russian warplanes have continued to back up the Syrian army and its allies, despite Moscow's recent announcement it was withdrawing the bulk of its military forces.

Syrian soldiers celebrated on the outskirts of Palmyra after marching into the city yesterday

Its planes carried out 41 sorties from Tuesday to Thursday in support of the Palmyra offensive and destroyed 146 targets, Russian news agencies reported on Friday, citing the Russian Defence Ministry.

Beirut-based television channel Al-Mayadeen, broadcasting from the edge of Palmyra, showed a low-flying jet carry out three air strikes against what it said were ISIS fighters withdrawing from the old citadel back into Palmyra.

'Army units took control over Palmyra's ancient citadel ... after dealing with the last Daesh terrorist groups,' state news agency SANA said.

A ceasefire backed by the United States and Russia covers most of Syria but not areas held by ISIS.

The first truce of its kind since the war began five years ago has been accompanied this month by the first peace talks attended by Assad's government and most of the groups opposed to him. Damascus in the meantime has turned its fire on ISIS.

The defeat in Palmyra has left the route open for the Syrian army to the ISIS capital in Raqqa

Syrian forces captured large amounts of ISIS weapons and ammunition after the terrorists fled Palmyra

So far the Syrian civil war has claimed the lives of 250,000 people and created millions of refugees

Moscow is the main ally of Assad's government, while Washington and other Western countries have backed foes trying to overthrow him during the civil war that has killed 250,000 people and led to the world's worst refugee crisis.

Both powers are committed to fighting ISIS and have backed a new diplomatic push to end fighting on other fronts.

A Russian special forces officer was killed in combat near Palmyra in the last week, Interfax said, suggesting the Kremlin had been more engaged in the Syrian conflict than it had acknowledged.

Syria's antiquities chief, Maamoun Abdulkarim, said driving ISIS out of Palmyra would be a victory for the whole world.

'After all the tragedy we have suffered in Syria for five years, and the 10 months in Palmyra after it fell ... it's the first time we feel joy,' Abdulkarim told Reuters.

'We pray for victory soon, so that the damage is limited. Palmyra, under their control, was the loss of a civilisation.'

Syrian troops today recaptured a mansion belonging to a member of the Qatari royal family in Palmyra

Iraqi forces have spent the last 12 months training and rearming before beginning the major offensive

Iraqi forces have won back much of the territory seized by the terror group during their 2014 blitzkrieg

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura has set out a blueprint for a political process aimed at ending the civil war, and said on Thursday that talks would tackle the divisive issue of a postwar transition when the warring sides gather again next month.

Progress has been slow, with the government delegation and its opponents disagreeing fundamentally on the terms of such a transition, including whether Assad must leave power.

After talks in Moscow on Thursday, Russia and the United State said they agreed to use their influence over both sides in the conflict to speed things up.

Interfax quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Friday as saying Washington now understood Moscow's position that Assad's future should not be discussed at the moment.

But U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement: 'Any suggestion that we have changed in any way our view of Assad's future is false. Assad has lost his legitimacy to govern. We haven't changed our view on that.'

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a press briefing in the Pentagon today that ISIS were on the retreat

ISIS terrorists in the town have been under artillery bombardment from Iraqi troops supported by the Air Force

Iraqi troops have launched a major offensive to recapture the strategically important town of Mosul

ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on Friday at a small soccer stadium in the Iraqi city of Iskanderiyah, 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the capital, Baghdad.

The attack killed 41 people and wounded 105, security and health officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.