Syrian government forces and their allies pushed forward against Islamic State fighters to reach the outskirts of the historic city of Palmyra on Wednesday, Britain-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, Reuters reports.

Clashes raged around the town after government forces took control of most of a nearby hill with air cover from Syrian and Russian warplanes, it said.

The Syrian army is trying to recapture Palmyra, which Islamic State seized in May, to open a road to the mostly IS-held eastern province of Deir al-Zor.