At least 116 people have been killed by Islamic State (ISIS) before leaving Qariatain in province of Homs (central Syria) in face of advancing forces loyal to government of Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Defence of Human Rights, an NGO that has a network of informers on ground, said on Monday that killing of so-called "collaborators with regime" took place during last three weeks.
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The Syrian Regular army and its Shia allies from Iran and Lebanon reconquered last weekend locality, which had been taken by ISIS earlier this month in an offensive launched from east of Arab country. Jihadis are being subjected in eastern province of Deir Ezzor to harassment of President Bashar al-Assad's troops, backed by Russia, and Kurdish-Arab militias of Syrian Democratic Front, a rebel coalition supported by United States.
The Observatory said that most of victims were "executed" by a headshot or butchered in 48 hours preceding fall of Al Qariatain, located in a deserted area on one of routes linking Damascus with Palmira. The city is more than 300 kilometers from current war scene in Deir Ezzor, a strategic border region with Iraq and rich in oil. The Islamic State, which had already occupied it in 2015, was evicted for first time last year by army after an intense bombing campaign of Russian aviation.
Abdel Rahman, director of Syrian NGO that recounts from United Kingdom victims of war that erupted in 2011, assured France Presse that part of fighters of ISIS who intervened in Al Qariatain came from "sleeping cells" that were activated in Area and whose members know eventual relationship that neighbors can maintain with regime of El Asad.