Video: Planted by IS, Russian sappers detonate mines ahead of Palmyra reconstruction

The video shows sappers from Russian armed forces de-mining and clearing the landmines here after the IS was expelled from the ancient city on March 27, following three weeks of intense fighting with Syrian troops. The city known to Syrians as the ‘Bride of the Desert” is famous for its 2,000-year-old ruins that once drew tens of thousands of visitors each year before IS destroyed many of the monuments.

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Meanwhile, the head of Russia’s renowned Hermitage art museum says he has submitted a proposal to the Russian president for the museum to get involved in the restoration of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.

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Mikhail Piotrovsky was quoted Thursday by the state news agency Tass as saying the plan submitted to President Vladimir Putin was worked out with the Russian Academy of Sciences.

He said Russian efforts could be part of an international restoration plan that he had discussed with the director of the United Nations’ cultural organization UNESCO.

Syrian troops with the support of Russian airstrikes regained control of Palmyra last month. Some of the city’s most prominent monuments and archaeological sites were destroyed or damaged when the city was under the control of the Islamic state group.