One of the worlds great art museums reinventing itself to be more contemporary and modern. That story, coming up. Syrian president Bashar Al Assads army has taken full control of the ancient town of palmyra. The Government Forces have been advancing into isilheld territory over the last few days. Theres been heavy fighting in the Historic Center and in residential areas, as well. The syrian army backed by russian air power has also captured the citadel, a unesco World Heritage site. Lets go now life to the turkish syrian border. Our correspondent is standing by. Omar, can you confirm that the fighting is over, that palmyra is indeed under Government Forces control now . Palmyra is indeed under the control of the Government Forces. This news is confirmed first by the local television, the state television, also by an activist group. However, isil have some fighters there, because over the last two hours or so, they launched an attack, two saturday car bombs hit a gathering of syrian army soldiers. We dont know the casualties of the attack, but thats an indication that isil remains somewhere in that area, or perhaps maybe outside of palmyra. The government is confirming its military spokesman is confirming that they are indeed in charge and have secured palmyra. Take us through the significance of the recapture of palmyra particularly for the syrian Government Forces. Its basically its location. To the east of palmyra, you have the area mostly controlled by ice ail and another stronghold. In iraq, where isil is also holding territories, crossing that route is key for the government to inflict on isil and to the north to try to cut that route for isil toward raqqa north of palmyra. Pal meyer radio itself connects the rest of the syria. Its location is very, very important. A very strategic location. Omar, thank you for that, reporting for us. Lets give you a bit of background on how the forces actually got there. Isils destruction of ancient architecture last year made headlines around the world, but its World Heritage status is not the only reason its important. The Syrian Government kept a prison where prisoners having toureddured. Isil blew up the prison in a symbolic move last may. The recapture drinks forces closer to raqqa. Its an important gain for the government. We have more. A significant advance against isil in syria. According to state media Government Forces backed by russian air power. They have recaptured the ancient area of isil after days of intense fighting. While there has been no independent confirmation, the bulk of isil forces had retreated. Following a series of large scale operations, our units operating on the countryside of homs, backed by the Syrian Forces pull filled their mission. They gained control over the surrounding mountains and ridgion and killed large numbers of isil terrorists and destroyed their bunkers and military gear. Isil took over palmyra, also a unesco World Heritage site last may and began destroying ancient sites and staging mass excuses. Known as the bride of the desert, palmyra used to attract tens of thousands of tourist as year before the conflict began. The city isnt known simply for its beautiful ruins. A prison complex is there. It was one of syrias most feared detention centers, housing political prisoners. Thousands of government opponents were reportedly tortured there. Shortly after taking over the city, isil blew up the jail, destroying an important symbol of government control. Palmyras location makes it important for the armed forces and their allies. While russia withdrew most forces from syria after six months of bombardment, the government of Bashar Al Assad has of late also mailed advances in rebel held territory. Recapturing palmyra opens up a possible advance of Government Forces towards much of the eastern desert, stretching to the iraqi border to the south and isils hard land to the east. Al jazeera. As Government Troops reportedly take palmyra, there is a cessation of hostilities in place elsewhere. Both sides have been generally observing the truce and agreed to the delivery of humanitarian aid. The u. N. Has managed to get medical help and food to nine of the 11 besieged areas. Government and rebels have blamed each other for sporadic fighting. Russia has with drown most of its forces, but activists say russian jets continue to support the Syrian Government offenses against isil. U. N. Brokered talks are scheduled to begin again in geneva next month. Lets get more now from a humanitarian activist with the syria campaign. She joins us live from beirut. Thanks for being with us. The u. N. Has said that its been able to deliver human aid to over 20,000 people, all thanks to the cessation of hostilities. Do you think they could have done more . Absolutely. 20,000 is a drop in the ocean when you think there is 1 Million People under siege. Were still very, very worried about certain towns opinion in the town of mazyra there is starvation. There are children with extended bellies, the way you would see in a famine. Douma, the u. N. Trucks have been able to drive through the city to get oh other places, but they havent stopped to off load some of the aid so the 200,000 people there that really desperately need that aid. On another matter, during this particular month of the truce, weve seen demonstrations against the assad good afternoon. What do you know of these protests . Whos organizing them and have there been any implications coming up from them . The fact that the bombs have stopped have allowed basically the revolution to continue. Its the same people that were organizing them before. Its civilians in their towns who from the very beginning demanded freedom and dignity and they continue to do so now. In terms of the peace talks, that really goes to show you that theres no way the war in syria can end unless the demands of the people are met, which is the removal of the assad of president assad. Also, the amazing thing about these protests is that theyve also been protesting extremists, like nusra and isis. Basically, the Syrian People want their dignity and freedom from all sides oppressing them. We are entering the sixth year of this particular conflict. This month weve seen a cessation of hostilities, were about to see the geneva talks start again. How hopeful are you we might be seeing the start of the end of the conflict . I cant say how hopeful i am, but will say that the cessation of hostilities and the fact its held up have taken quite a few of us by surprise. The biggest Sticking Point of course will be if assad remains in power or not and thats a crucial question, because it affects whether the detainees are released and theres thousands of people currently busy appeared in assad prisons. It also affects whether the sieges will be lifted or not. Thank you so much for joining us. A crowd has gathered in central brussels. Lets take a look at live pictures coming from the belgian capital. Earlier, a solidarity rally called marsh against fear was planned to mark tuesdays attacks. Lets go live to jacki role lands who joins us from brussels. We know the marsh has been postponed but were seeing a gathering of people in brussels. Just explain to us whats happening here. Thats right, the official march has been postponed due to security fears. The authority discussed it with the organizers, there is a general agreement in the current climate, the risk of attack was too high and the Security Forces are simply overstretched in order to be able to police the demos that could have attracted thousands. However that said, in the last hour, we have seen a group of 100 or so right wing activists, football hooligans, that is how theyve been described to me. Theyre carrying a banner saying casuals against terrorism. The police and army are here in quite strong presence. There were Army Vehicles blocking roads leading to the square and the police have been checking ike d. S of people coming into the square. Right now we have a series of riot police behind us on the perimeter of the square. Although there were threats by these individuals to actually come in and disrupt what has largely been a peaceful demonstration, people coming through, lighting candles, laying flowers. It appears that the police have by and large been able to keep these demonstrators at the perimeter of the square. Has there been much backlash sings the attacks occurred on tuesday . When you say backlash, what deem . Have you seen perhaps people as weve seen in paris and throughout europe whenever theres been a terrorist attack, weve seen muslim communities being attacked or criticized. Has there been much of that in belgium since tuesday . Up knoll you, not as far as weve been able to see. I have talked extensively with members of the Muslim Community. We were a couple of days ago at an Islamic School where the gym teacher was among those killed in the metro bombing. Up until now, Muslim Community leaders have not talked about being targeted in tit for tat violence. Obviously people who were part of this march now were chanting slogans that sounded racist, sounded anti immigration. Up until now, we are not aware have communities targeted in the kind of random violence. People coming to the square have been delivering messages of peace, of coexistence between communities and we have seen a big banner in the top of the square saying not in the name of islam. We have this group of 100 or so people who clearly do seem in tent on provokes confrontation. As you talk, were seeing the group of people that have gathered there about to confront this line of police. They are also gathered there. This is one of the reasons i asked about backlash. No doubt, the Security Forces are overstretched, trying to keep security, as well as calm and peace in the city right now. We dont know much about whos organized this demonstration as youve mentioned, however, we are watching the police now actually advancing on this group of demonstrators there in the capital. What do we know of this group . We dont know very much about this group at all. Ive just been talking to our local cameraman, whos been tell me that the profile of the people participating in this attempt to carry out some kind of confrontation with the police and also with people in the square, they appear to be football hooligans, right wing activists, as i said, they set up marching about an hour or so ago, carrying banners that say f. D. K. Isis. They do seem to be people who are seeking to provoke confrontation. Certainly the first instance of which weve seen of people trying to have some kind of a violent confrontation in what in recent days until now has been a very peaceful and thoughtful gathering here, bringing together people of all different communities within brussels. We have seen a lot of people of the Muslim Community laying flowers. Weve seen people with disabilities coming to the square to pay their respects. Weve seen internationals, weve seen belgian people and so this is really the first instance in several days of being here at the square that we have seen any kind of violent element seeking to provoke confrontation with the Security Forces. As were talking to you, jacki, were just seeing that group turn its back against that line of police there, police of course armed with shields, as well as batons. They seem to be riot police readying for confrontation that might occur. As you say, the demonstration so far has been largely peaceful. Jacki, well let you go for now. We will come back to you later on in the show for an update. Jacki role lands reporting from the capital. Police tweeted this photo of masked officers in the Southern Italian town of belize. The man is of algerian descent. He may be extra dated to belgium in the next days. Prosecutors have so far charged three men with procedure too fast over the suicide talks. Turning our attention to the crisis in greece, and refugees and migrants are holding protests along the macedonian border, demanding officials let them through. To give you a better idea of the situation, there are more than 12,000 people sometime stranded at that makeshift camp. Most have refused to go to governmentrun shelters. The fear that they will either be forced to stay in greece or be deported back to turkey. Now elsewhere, on the greek island of lesbos, some refugees have been sent to the Northern City of cavala awaiting deportation. The refugees say they are angry and frustrated over worsening conditions at the camp. Most have already sold their belongings and spent their savings to get this far. Zeina hodor tells their story. Yet again they make their way to greeces border, totaled northern route has reopened. They walked for kilometers in the cold. We are going there because they are openings the border. We read it on social media and facebook pages of access. We were celebrating this afternoon night. These people were not given the correct information. This i also what they found. Dozens preparing to breakthrough greek police lines and push their way forward. This is the only hope we have left. They want to take us to military camps and the e. U. Relocation program could take months or years. Im confident we can get through, because we are many people. A few dozen gathered, but they changed their minds. We wont march, they said. Not unless the red cross is with them and theres a decision by the European Union to let them in. These refugees and migrants know that crossing by force will not change anything. Two weeks ago, some of them managed to breakthrough a barbed wire fence only to be arrested by macedonian authorities and sent back. Instead, they held peaceful protest in front of the world cameras in the hope their voices will be heard and their suffering not forgotten. We will endure the cold and stay even with no food but wont leave here. Our families are in europe. We will stay until we can cross. This is where they will wait while their asylum requests are processed. Whats going on here is a tragedy for our whole continent who are renouncing to our voluminous history and humanity. The route has been closed for weeks. There is no indication that will change. More and more people are realizing that europes open door policy has been shut. Zeina hodor, al jazeera. Still to come on this news hour, a new law in pakistan to protect women from abuse comes under attack. I like to save people. I like to save trees, even nature. I love it. Doing a good turn. Rev gees in australia are now volunteering at firefighters. In sport, world champions germany suffer an unlikely defeat in berlin. U. S. President ial hopeful Bernie Sanders has won democratic caucuses in three states. He clinked the vote in hawaii, washington and alaska over front runner Hillary Clinton on saturday but lagged behind clinton in the delegate count. This is how the democratic president ial race stands at the moment. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the democratic nomination. Despite Bernie Sanders win in hawaii, Hillary Clinton still leads with 1,234 pledged delegates. Sanders has 956 and hes hoping his campaign will pick up momentum with his latest victory. Lets go live to washington, d. C. Where other correspondent rob reynolds is standing by. Victories in three states for Bernie Sanders. Just whats behind his latest success . He won big in these three states, caucuses, over 70 in both alaska and hawaii and over 80 in washington. The reasons behind sanders popularity among the democrats in these states are somewhat in line with where hes won elsewhere. If you look at where hes won, its a large white diverse electorate, people going out after the caucuses and telling reporters that their main concern is that they believe the system is broken, that it is corrupted by money and that only Bernie Sanders is talking about that, and only he will really affect significant change in that. If you contrast his victories in these three states again with largely white liberal populations in the democratic electorate with clintons victories in earlier states like florida, like North Carolina where theres a much more diverse electorate with lots of africanamerican and hispanic voters, as well, youll see this dynamic has emerged where clinton has this sort of firewall among minority voters that she has been using to her advantage and she still leads quite substantially in those numbers of delegates. So, tell us, whats next now in the democratic race. The next three primaries will be key, i think. The first one is in wisconsin, sanders and clinton are both bitterly contesting that state. Its a very important key state in the upper midwest. Then comes new york, which Hillary Clinton represented for eight years in the u. S. Senate be, sanders supporters hope that he can embarrass her in that state somehow by coming at least close to victory or giving ate good fight. Thats followed by delegate rich pennsylvania, which clinton won handily in 2008 in her fight for the nomination, losing fight for the nomination with barack obama. Excuse me. Rob, thank you for that update, rob reynolds speaking to us from washington, d. C. A new Opposition Party formed in japan ahead of elections this summer. The new party is a merger of smaller opposition groups, looking to put pressure on the ruling conservative party. Rob mcbride has more from tokyo. This merger is seen by many in the fragmented opposition as being the best chance of trying to derail the ruling conservative Coalition Government of Prime Minister abey ahead of upper house elections this summer. H