A Sputnik correspondent has received an exclusive first-hand look at the situation in the large, sparsely populated but strategically crucial desert territories in the Badia (the Syrian Steppe) following its liberation from jihadists.
Traveling from Palmyra in central Syria to the border with Iraq and the so-called 55-kilometer "security zone" around the US base at Al-Tanf in the country's south, journalist Mikhail Alaeddin surveyed the situation on the ground now that the Daesh (ISIS/ISIL)* caliphate has been smashed.
Palmyra at Peace
"On the road from the city of Homs to Palmyra I recall last year's experiences. Today, the road is paved with descent asphalt, without pits or burnt-out cars on the roadside. Last spring, the day Palmyra was freed from the terrorists, after slamming into a pit from a mortar shell, my car lost a wheel," the journalist recalled.