The Islamic State (IS) is advancing in central Syria, seizing control of a town that lies near a highway leading to the capital, Damascus, and attacking another, activists and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.
The capture of Mahin, in the central Homs Governorate, and the push toward the majority-Christian town of Sadad, marks a new advance by the Islamic State beyond its strongholds in northern and eastern Syria. The militant group in May had seized control of the ancient city of Palmyra and a neighboring village.
The new expansion comes despite Russian airstrikes in Syria, which Moscow says target the Islamic State and other “terrorist” groups.
Islamic State fighters have also made recent gains in the Aleppo Governorate, seizing villages from other rebel groups and controlling a section of a strategic highway that serves as a supply route into government-controlled areas of Aleppo.
The Observatory said that after intensive clashes with government troops, Islamic State forces captured Mahin and were now pushing their way northwest toward Sadad.
Mahin is 25km east of the highway that links the central province to Damascus. The town also houses a large military complex and arms depots — and was the scene of intense clashes between government troops and al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria in 2013 before the government recaptured it.
Sadad is home to Syria’s Assyrian Christian minority and the ancient language of Aramaic is still spoken there.
Islamic State-owned radio station al-Bayan said the group took control of large arms depots in Mahin after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a government checkpoint outside the town, opening the way for its fighters to advance.
The Observatory reported airstrikes on Mahin, following the Islamic State taking control of the town.
The Shaam news agency, operated by anti-government activists, said at least 100 cages are deployed in residential areas of the rebel-suburb as a way to pressure the government to stop its bombing. At least 70, mostly civilians, were killed after a government barrage of missiles hit a Douma market on Friday. A hashtag on social media, Cages of Protection, spread to highlight images of the caged prisoners.
The Observatory said government troops have also used the practice in majority-Shiite villages in the northern rebel-held province of Idlib.
Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Walid Muallem on Sunday said “important” points were made during international talks seeking to revive a moribund political process and end his country’s civil war.
However, Muallem said negotiators failed to convince his government’s foes to curb their support for “terrorism.” Syria’s government refers to the entire armed opposition as “terrorists.” It blames Saudi Arabia and Turkey of arming them and fueling terrorism in Syria.
Muallem’s comments came after his meeting with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, who arrived in Damascus on Sunday to brief him on the details of the international talks in Vienna.
The Vienna meeting, which ended on Friday last week, brought together the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which back the Syrian opposition, and al-Assad’s two key allies, Iran and Russia.
Neither the Syrian government nor the opposition was directly represented at the talks.
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