Russia says its warplanes have bombed Islamic State (IS) positions around the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.
A fortification, an underground bunker and anti-aircraft guns were destroyed in strikes by Su-25 jets, according to a defence ministry statement.
Activists said the air strikes targeted the area around a reconstructed 13th Century castle perched on a hilltop to the west of Palmyra's Roman-era ruins.
The activists added it was difficult to assess the extent of the damage.
IS militants have destroyed two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers since driving Syrian government troops out of Palmyra in May.
The jihadist group believes that such structures are idolatrous. The UN cultural agency, Unesco, has condemned the destruction as a war crime.
Ancient city of Palmyra
- Unesco World Heritage site
- Site contains monumental ruins of great city, once one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world
- Art and architecture, from the 1st and 2nd Centuries, combine Greco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences
- More than 1,000 columns, a Roman aqueduct and a formidable necropolis of more than 500 tombs made up the archaeological site
- More than 150,000 tourists visited Palmyra every year before the Syrian conflict
The Russian defence ministry did not say when the strikes in Palmyra took place, but the activists and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that it was on Monday.
Palmyra's castle, known as Qalaat Shirkuh or Qalaat Ibn Maan, is part of the Unesco World Heritage site and sits on a hilltop about 150m above the main ruins.
It was long attributed to a 17th Century Lebanese Maanite emir, but archaeologists say the original fortress was constructed around AD1230 by the Homs emir, al-Mujahid Assad al-Din Shirkuh II.
Last month, the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology reported that parts of the castle had been damaged in Syrian government barrel bomb attacks.
European Space Imaging, Digital Glob
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