Syrian troops capture central town recently taken by IS

BEIRUT — Syrian government forces and their allies regained control Saturday of a predominantly Christian central town that sleeper cells of the Islamic State group captured late last month.

The government-run Syrian Central Military Media said “the Syrian army and its allies have restored security and stability to Qaryatayn” after clearing the town of IS fighters.

The capture of Qaryatayn came after nearly three weeks of fighting that saw IS capture areas it had earlier lost in an offensive by Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militiamen under the cover of Russian airstrikes.

IS lost control of the northern city of Raqqa this week after a four-month offensive by the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Last week, IS lost its stronghold of Mayadeen in eastern Syria.

IS still holds parts of Syria’s eastern Deir el-Zour province and Iraq’s Anbar province, as well as small, scattered pockets elsewhere. The loss of Qaryatayn is another blow for the extremist group.

Earlier this month, the Russian military accused the U.S. of helping IS launch a series of attacks against Syrian troops. Moscow said that IS launched a series of attacks in late September from the area around Tanf near Syria’s border with Jordan, where U.S. military advisers are based.

The Russians said the IS attacks near Qaryatayn in the Homs province, and a key highway linking Palmyra and Deir el-Zour, wouldn’t have been possible without U.S. intelligence.

The capture of Qaryatayn came as Syria and its strong backer Iran signed a joint memorandum of understanding for developing cooperation.

It said the memo was signed between the two countries’ chiefs of staff, adding that it provides for exchanging military expertise and intelligence and technology information in a way that can boost the two countries’ capability to fight terrorism, according to state news agency SANA.

Iran has been one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s strongest supporters since the country’s crisis began in 2011 and has sent thousands of Iranian-backed militiamen to boost his troops against opponents.