War correspondent Oleg Blokhin, who is in the units of the Syrian government army, told about the details of the Palmyra capture on his Facebook page. According to him, the storming of the city was carried out correctly so that the terrorists did not stand a chance.
“The show was notable like in movies about the Second World War. At 7:30 it was ordered to start an assault. Soldiers of the Syrian army moved along two parallel roads. One led from the south right to the Historic Palmyra. The second to the area of the citadel, where the south-western gate Tadmor is situated. At the beginning there were no much resistance. The first centers of resistance appeared when the column, going from the south to the ruins of Palmyra have reached the hotel complex. Almost at the same time column moving towards the citadel chashed with jihadists”, said Blokhin.
He wrote that the militants used a large-caliber firearms and even knocked out one of the armored vehicles using ATGM. Also, the terrorists began to fire army positions with mortars, but the firing points rather quickly were suppressed with the help of artillery and helicopters.
By 14 o’clock the terrorists left the ancient city and retreated to the residential areas. By 14:30 the Syrian army took Syriatel height, and the “spirits” had only the citadel then. By 15 o’clock, it also fell. At this time from the east came another group to the city, and insurgents have only to retreat. The journalist believes that the very fact of the assault was not a surprise for the insurgents, but the way it was conducted, is admirable.