by Our Foreign Desk

SYRIAN government forces kept up their successful advance in the north-east of the country yesterday, expelling Islamic State (Isis) fighters from Qaryatain in Homs province.

As with Palmyra a week ago, Syrian army troops and their allies struck under cover of Russian air strikes, dealing another setback to the death-cult extremists.

Qaryatain used to be home to a sizable Christian population and lies midway between Palmyra and the capital Damascus.

Many Christians fled the town after it came under Isis attack, while dozens of residents were abducted by the extremists. Some were released, while others were made to sign pledges to pay a tax imposed on non-Muslims.

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

Christians, who made up about 10 per cent of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million people, have generally been staunch supporters of President Bashar al-Assad, fearing for their future under so-called caliphate rule.

State news agency Sana said that government forces were currently dismantling bombs placed by extremists inside Qaryatain after “wiping out Isis terrorists inside it.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that some of the extremists had started withdrawing toward eastern parts of the mountainous Qalamoun region.

Isis has suffered major defeats in Syria over the past months amid intense activity by Russian war planes, co-ordinating their air strikes with government and independent Kurdish forces.

The observatory reported earlier yesterday that the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front had killed several fighters belonging to Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah in an assault on the northern village of Al-Ais.

According to the Observatory, at least 25 pro-government and 16 opposition fighters died on Saturday in clashes south of Aleppo, where the Nusra Front, backed by US-approved “moderate” rebel militias, had captured a village overlooking a major road.

Russia’s Defence Ministry voiced complaints about ceasefire violations, saying that the Nusra Front had taken control over opposition groups around Aleppo. Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, who heads the Russian military co-ordination centre in Syria, said that he had informed his US counterparts about the violations.