Islamic State militants seize control of key town central Syria

The Islamic State group has abducted 230 civilians, including at least 60 Christians, in a central Syrian town hours after it captured it, a monitoring group said on Friday.

ISIS furthered its attack on President Bashar al-Assad’s forces by capturing Qaryatain, a central Syrian town.

Qaryatain is located southwest of Palmyra, home of the famous towering Roman ruins, and approximately 85 kilometers away from Homs city.

“The control of Al-Qaryatain allows ISIS to link the areas under its control in the eastern countryside of Homs with the areas under its control in the eastern countryside of Qalamun, and allows it to transfer fighters and supplies between the two regions”, Abdel Rahman reportedly said.

In May, masked men abducted Syrian priest Jacques Mourad from the Syriac Catholic Mar Elian monastery in Al-Qaryatain, near the ISIS-captured ancient city of Palmyra. News. The capture comes after a string of military setbacks suffered by ISIS since its capture of Palmyra.

Activists say it has a mixed population of about 40,000 Sunni Muslims and Christians, as well as thousands of internally displaced people who had fled from Homs.

The battle just lately took one other flip when Turkey started attacking ISIS positions earlier this month, including to the Islamist group’s record of enemies. Turkey’s foreign minister said Wednesday that American aircraft had begun to arrive at the base, which is close to the border with Syria, adding that an “extensive’ fight against the extremists would soon begin”.