Syrian government forces have reached the edge of the ancient city of Palmyra after driving back Islamic State (IS) militants, officials and activists say.
Syria's state news agency said the army and allied militia had taken control of hills overlooking the city - a Unesco World Heritage site.
IS seized the ruins of Palmyra and the 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 world-renowned pre-Islamic sites in neighbouring Iraq, believes that such structures are idolatrous.
Unesco, the UN's cultural agency, has condemned the destruction as a war crime.