Russian military engineer
© Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
Russian engineers have successfully completed clearing the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra of explosives left behind by Islamic State. Nearly 3,000 explosive devices on around 230 hectares (2.3 sq km) of the World Heritage site have been defused. "The task of clearing the architectural and historical part of Palmyra of explosives has been fully completed," the head of the Russian Army's engineering unit, Yury Stavitsky, reported from Syria to President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. Engineers from the Russian Army's International Anti-mine Center were deployed to Palmyra in the beginning of this month, following the Syrian government's request to help de-mine the city. The City of Palms was recaptured by the Syrian Army backed by Russian forces on March 27.


Russian sappers have been working not only at the historic site of Palmyra, but also helped to de-mine the modern city nearby. Prior to its capture by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in May of last year, the city in western Syria was home to about 70,000 people. Hundreds of residents have already returned to the city, local authorities said. While the UNESCO World Heritage site and the residential area nearby were in the hands of IS, they had infested it with thousands of mines, which could potentially level the city in a matter of seconds.

Approaches to the city and its residential quarters were rigged with explosives, which turned Palmyra into a huge "delayed action mine," RT has learned. Sadly, during their 10 months long occupation of the city, the jihadists put many of their explosives into action, destroying a number of unique historical monuments. Despite earlier hopes that the damage was quite repairable, Palmyra's current appearance is incomparable to how it looked before the IS occupation.

While the Russian engineers along with the Syrian Army have been working in the city, efforts were made by restoration experts and organizations to decide on what can be done to bring Palmyra back to its former cultural glory. Earlier this month, a Russia-drafted resolution on the role of UNESCO in restoring the devastated ancient city was unanimously approved by the organization.