A general view shows a heavily damaged road in the recently retaken desert town of Al Qaryatain on October 22, 2017. AFP
A general view shows a heavily damaged road in the recently retaken desert town of Al Qaryatain on October 22, 2017. AFP

ISIL 'executed' 116 in Syria town revenge campaign



ISIL executed dozens of civilians this month in the Syrian desert, a monitor said on Monday, in a gruesome massacre as the extremists see their "caliphate" collapse.

The extremist group last week lost its key Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, the latest in a string of setbacks for the group who is facing multiple offensives in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said ISIL fighters massacred more than 100 people in the desert town of Al Qaryatain this month before they lost it to regime forces.

"ISIL has over a period of 20 days executed at least 116 civilians in reprisal killings, accusing them of collaboration with regime forces," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Regime forces retook Al Qaryatain, which lies in the central Homs province, on Saturday, three weeks after the extremists seized control of it.

ISIL first occupied the town in 2015 and lost it to Russian-backed Syria forces last year.

"After the regime retook it [on Saturday], the town's residents found the bodies on the streets. They had been shot dead or executed with knives," Abdel Rahman said.

"Most of the ISIL fighters who attacked the town a month ago were sleeper cells … They are from the town, know the town's residents and who is for or against the regime," he said.

The majority of those killed were executed in the last two days before ISIL lost the town again, he added.

The regime seized back Al Qaryatain on Saturday after more than 200 ISIL fighters withdrew from the town overnight, pulling back into the vast desert region that stretches all the way to the Iraqi border.

Al Qaryatain was a symbol of religious coexistence before the civil war broke out in 2011, with some 900 Christians among its population of 30,000.

But it was ravaged by ISIL during the group's eight-month-long occupation of the town in 2015-16, with its Christian sites including a fifth-century church reduced to rubble.

At the peak of its power in 2014, ISIL's self-styled "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq was approximately the size of Britain.

But it has suffered a string of major setbacks in recent months, including the loss in July of its most important Iraqi stronghold, the city of Mosul.

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Last week, it also lost its most important Syrian bastion, the city of Raqqa, after a campaign of more than four months led by the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed militia.

The extremists group is now mostly confined to the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor in the country's east, along the border with Iraq.

ISIL holds around 40 per cent of the province, which was once almost completely in its hands, and faces two separate offensives, including by the SDF.

The US-backed militia is fighting the group mostly on the eastern side of the Euphrates River that slices diagonally across the province.

On Sunday, SDF fighters seized one of the country's largest oilfields from the group.

Syria's regime is conducting a separate, Russian-backed offensive in the province, largely on the western bank of the river.

In September, the offensive ended an ISIL siege of nearly three years on government-held parts of the provincial capital Deir Ezzor city.

The group now holds just eight per cent of the city, according to the Observatory.

Elsewhere in the country, ISIL holds just a few pockets of territory, including a handful of recently recaptured villages in central Hama province, and parts of the Palestinian Yarmuk camp in southern Damascus.

An allied group, Jaish Khaled Bin Walid, is also present in parts of southern Syria.

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

Tell Me Who I Am

Director: Ed Perkins

Stars: Alex and Marcus Lewis

Four stars

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

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The biog

Age: 35

Inspiration: Wife and kids 

Favourite book: Changes all the time but my new favourite is Thinking, Fast and Slow  by Daniel Kahneman

Best Travel Destination: Bora Bora , French Polynesia 

Favourite run: Jabel Hafeet, I also enjoy running the 30km loop in Al Wathba cycling track