Russian musicians have been staging a concert in the ruins of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra to celebrate its recapture from Islamic State militants.
Renowned conductor Valery Gergiev , a supporter of Russia's President Vladimir Putin, conducted the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra, from St. Petersburg, at Palmyra's Roman Theater.
The crowd was mainly Russian soldiers, government ministers and journalists.
Gergiev said the concert as a protest against the barbarism exhibited by ISIS who had used the city's Roman amphitheatre to execute prisoners.