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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Read more
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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.
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
If you go:
Getting there:
Flying to Guyana requires first reaching New York with either Emirates or Etihad, then connecting with JetBlue or Caribbean Air at JFK airport. Prices start from around Dh7,000.
Getting around:
Wildlife Worldwide offers a range of Guyana itineraries, such as its small group tour, the 15-day ‘Ultimate Guyana Nature Experience’ which features Georgetown, the Iwokrama Rainforest (one of the world’s four remaining pristine tropical rainforests left in the world), the Amerindian village of Surama and the Rupununi Savannah, known for its giant anteaters and river otters; wildlifeworldwide.com
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
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Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
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