ISIL loses another key town to Syria

Qaryatain, halfway between Palmyra and the capital Damascus, was terrorist group’s main base in centre of country

DAMASCUS // Syrian troops yesterday seized the key ISIL bastion of Al Qaryatain – a week after expelling the extremists from Palmyra.

The push into the town took place under the cover of Russian air strikes, state media said.

An activist group that monitors the Syrian civil war said government forces were in control of most of the town after ISIL fighters withdrew to its eastern outskirts. The capture of Qaryatain deprived ISIL of a main base in central Syria and could be used by government forces in the future to launch attacks on ISIL-held areas near the Iraqi border. Qaryatain used to be home to a sizeable Christian population and lies midway between Palmyra and the capital, Damascus. Activists said last summer that Qaryatain had a population of about 40,000 Sunni Muslims and Christians, as well as thousands of people who had fled from the nearby city of Homs. Many of the Christians fled the town after it came under ISIL attack.

Dozens of Qaryatain’s Christians and other residents were abducted by the extremists. Some were released, others were made to sign pledges to pay a tax imposed on non-Muslims.

ISIL extremists blew up and destroyed some of the world’s most precious relics at Palmyra’s archaeological sites during their 10-month reign.

The ancient Saint Eliane Monastery near Qaryatain was bulldozed shortly after ISIL took the town in August.

Christians made up about 10 per cent of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million people. The Syrian army command said troops had “restored security and stability to Qaryatain and farms surrounding it”. The statement, read by an army general on state television, said the oil and gas pipelines in the area would be secured and ISIL supply routes between eastern desert and the Qalamoun region would be severed.

A Syrian army general, speaking from Qaryatain to the Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV, said troops were dismantling bombs placed by extremists and would prepare for launching attacks on areas held by ISIL.

“Fighting was going from one house to another,” another army officer said.

ISIL had suicide attackers who were trying to block the army’s push into the town, he said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there was intense fighting in Qaryatain as government troops fought to recapture all parts of the town.

The observatory’s chief, Rami Abdel Rahman, said ISIL fighters were still in control of small areas east of the town but “are on the verge of collapse”.

He said ISIL was withdrawing towards eastern parts of the mountainous Qalamoun region.

ISIL has suffered major defeats in Syria in recent months amid intense air raids by Russian warplanes.

Earlier yesterday, the observatory reported that fighting in northern Syria the previous day resulted in the deaths of several fighters belonging to the Lebanese militant Hizbollah group.

Hizbollah has been fighting alongside Syrian president Bashar Al Assad’s troops in his country’s civil war.

The observatory said that 12 Hizbollah fighters were killed and dozens were wounded in Saturday’s attack by militants led by Al Qaeda’s Syria branch – known as Jabhat Al Nusra – on the northern village of Al Ais.

In southern Lebanon, social media postings yesterday carried photos of seven Hizbollah fighters said to be among those killed in Al Ais. Although Jabhat Al Nusra is not subject to the truce between the Syrian government forces and western-backed rebels, the fighting has threated to undermine the ceasefire that has largely held for more than a month.

Government forces are in control of most of the town after ISIL fighters pulled out