The official Sana news agency reported that troops had taken a reconstructed 13th Century castle perched on a hill to the west of the Roman-era ruins. IS seized the Unesco World Heritage site of Palmyra and adjoining modern town in May. It subsequently destroyed two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers, drawing global outrage. The jihadist group, which has also demolished several pre-Islamic sites in neighbouring Iraq, believes that such structures are idolatrous.