Beirut: At least 26 pro-government fighters were killed battling the Islamic State group near Palmyra on Monday as Damascus stepped up a bid to recapture the ancient city, a monitoring group said.
"IS thwarted an offensive by Syrian regime loyalists as they pressed an advance some four kilometres (two and a half miles) from Palmyra, and at least 26 fighters were killed," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
AFP
