(Zaman Al Wasl)- Islamic State fighters took the central town of Mahin east of Homs city for the second time in two years, an affiliate news agency said Sunday, a move set off alarm bells over a nearby ancient Christian town.
Activists said the radical group seek to control Syrian regime's biggest ammunition depots in the war-torn country amid fears of invading the next-door Christian town of Sadad.about 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of Mahin.
Taking the strategic town of Mahin came three months since ISIS captured Qaryatain, the town that lies in the middle of a triangle formed by the cities of Homs, Palmyra and Damascus.
Osama Edward, the director of the Christian Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria, said "hundreds of families" have fled the Christian town of Sadad toward the government-held central city of Homs and the capital, Damascus. Christians make up about 10 percent of Syria's prewar population of 23 million people.
Sadad was captured briefly in 2013 by members of al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, and was retaken later by government forces.
In eastern Syria, the newly formed U.S.-backed Syrian rebel alliance on Saturday launched an offensive against Islamic State in the northeast province of Hasaka, a day after the United States said it would send special forces to advise insurgents fighting the jihadists.
It was the first declared operation by the Democratic Forces of Syria, which joins together a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia and several Syrian Arab rebel groups, since it announced its formation earlier this month.
Activists said the radical group seek to control Syrian regime's biggest ammunition depots in the war-torn country amid fears of invading the next-door Christian town of Sadad.about 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of Mahin.
Taking the strategic town of Mahin came three months since ISIS captured Qaryatain, the town that lies in the middle of a triangle formed by the cities of Homs, Palmyra and Damascus.
Osama Edward, the director of the Christian Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria, said "hundreds of families" have fled the Christian town of Sadad toward the government-held central city of Homs and the capital, Damascus. Christians make up about 10 percent of Syria's prewar population of 23 million people.
Sadad was captured briefly in 2013 by members of al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, and was retaken later by government forces.
In eastern Syria, the newly formed U.S.-backed Syrian rebel alliance on Saturday launched an offensive against Islamic State in the northeast province of Hasaka, a day after the United States said it would send special forces to advise insurgents fighting the jihadists.
It was the first declared operation by the Democratic Forces of Syria, which joins together a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia and several Syrian Arab rebel groups, since it announced its formation earlier this month.
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