MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Syrian government troops and opposition units have rebuffed Daesh from key heights near the Damascus-Palmyra highway, the Russian General Staff said Tuesday.
"In the course of a joint offensive by the army and opposition groups, IS [Daesh] fighters were knocked out from commanding heights near the Damascus-Palmyra road," chief of the Russian General Staff Main Operational Directorate Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy said.
Syrian troops gained control over 9 miles of the key highway that had been under terrorist control for three years, he added.