In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian forces take up positions during fighting between Government forces and Islamic State group militants in the ancient city of Palmyra, near Homs, Syria, Thursday, March 2, 2017. Syrian state media says government forces have reached the edge of Palmyra and are poised to reclaim the historic town from the Islamic State group. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian forces take up positions during fighting between Government forces and Islamic State group militants in the ancient city of Palmyra, near Homs, Syria, Thursday, March 2, 2017. Syrian state media says government forces have reached the edge of Palmyra and are poised to reclaim the historic town from the Islamic State group. (SANA via AP) Credit: ap

Beirut — Syrian government forces recaptured the historic town of Palmyra from the Islamic State on Thursday, aided by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Russian military and, indirectly, American airstrikes.

The government victory came nearly three months after the Islamic State marched back into the town in a surprise assault that appeared to have taken the Syrian army unawares.

The Syrian army announced in a statement read on state television Thursday evening that its forces were in complete control of Palmyra after a push on the town in recent days that saw Islamic State defenses rapidly collapse.

The Islamic State surge into Palmyra in December was the first offensive conducted by the militants in more than 18 months, and raised fears they were on the advance again. The relatively swift recapture by government loyalist forces suggested the surge was a temporary aberration, the result more of weakness on the part of a thinly spread Syrian Army that has come to rely on foreign allies for its survival.

The militants are currently on the retreat in multiple locations along their long, jagged front line with a variety of forces in Iraq and Syria, including in the Iraqi city of Mosul and on the outskirts of their self-proclaimed capital, Raqqa.

The offensive to retake the Palmyra was supported by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, whose fighters have been instrumental in securing President Bashar Assad’s survival over the past five years. A video aired on the Hezbollah television station Al-Manar showed Hezbollah fighters camping out in the desolate mountains surrounding Palmyra and advancing on the town through the sandy, stony wilderness.

The Syrian offensive was also aided by Russian airstrikes, according to Russian news reports quoting Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. The Syrian army statement thanked Syria’s “friends” for their help in the offensive, singling out Russia. Russian military intervention in 2015 sealed the survival of Assad by adding the muscle of Russian airstrikes to the manpower contributed by Iranian backed militias on the ground.

The Syrian statement did not mention the role of the United States, which has also stepped up strikes in the Palmyra area in recent weeks.