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		</div><p>Syrian president Bashar Assad has described his army&#8217;s recapture of Palmyra as a &#8220;significant achievement&#8221;.</p>
<p>In comments reported by Syrian state TV, he said that the overthrow of the Islamic State group in the historic town offered &#8220;new evidence of the effectiveness of the strategy espoused by the Syrian army and its allies in the war against terrorism&#8221;.</p>
<p>Government forces had been on the offensive for nearly three weeks to try to retake the town, which is home to famed Roman-era ruins and was once one of Syria&#8217;s top tourist destinations. It had been in the hands of militants from IS group since May.</p>
<p>State TV quoted an unnamed military official as saying that &#8220;the armed forces and groups of popular defence committees have fully taken control of Palmyra&#8221;. The popular defence committees are militias allied with the government.</p>
<p>The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed IS has lost the town, saying there were many deaths among the extremists.</p>
<p>The advance marks both a strategic and symbolic victory for the government. Its forces are now better positioned for a future advance on Raqqa, the IS group&#8217;s de facto capital, and the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, which is mostly held by the extremists.</p>
<p>IS drove government forces from Palmyra in a matter of days last May and later demolished some of the best-known monuments in the Unesco world heritage site, including two large temples dating back more than 1,800 years and a Roman triumphal archway.</p>
<p>The extremists have destroyed a number of historical sites across their self-declared caliphate, viewing such ruins as promoting idolatry.</p>
<p>IS also demolished Palmyra&#8217;s infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of government opponents were reportedly tortured.</p>
<p>Syrian culture minister Issam Khalil hailed the recapture of Palmyra as a &#8220;victory for humanity and right over all projects of darkness&#8221;.</p>
<p>Maamoun Abdulkarim, director of the government&#8217;s museums and antiquities department in Damascus, said damage to the Great Colonnade at Palmyra is minor. &#8220;We will rebuild what you have destroyed&#8221;, he said, addressing IS.</p>
<p>Syrian state TV interrupted its normal programmes to air a documentary about the town and its archaeological sites. &#8220;It&#8217;s 10 in the morning Palmyra time. Our morning is victorious,&#8221; a TV announcer said.</p>
<p>Later a TV reporter spoke live from inside Palmyra, showing troops in the centre of the town. Some of the nearby buildings had been reduced to rubble.</p>
<p>The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three weeks of fighting killed more than 400 IS fighters, as well as 180 troops and pro-government militiamen. Residents said that IS evacuated all of Palmyra&#8217;s civilians to other territories under its control before government forces entered the city.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Russian jets carried out 40 air sorties near Palmyra in a 24-hour period, hitting 158 targets and killing more than 100 militants, Russia&#8217;s defence minister said Saturday.</p>
<p>The government has also benefited from a US 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 under way in Geneva that were adjourned last week.</p>
<p>Syria&#8217;s conflict began a little more than five years ago with mostly peaceful protests against the Assad family&#8217;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.</p>
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This is the best game changer that Assad can ever have, the Russians definitely did a good job. Hopefully they will call back all their citizens and put an end to this terrible refugee situation.
I pray for the people of Syria especially the Christians that have been oppressed. Now they can start having hope again.
I wonder why this is not a major news story all around the world.