ISIS captures yet another critical town in central Syria. AP

An ISIS fighter on top of a captured Syrian armored vehicle. ISIS photo via AP/Yahoo.

ISIS has captured yet another town in central Syria. AP. The town of Qaryatain fell to ISIS after three suicide bombers targeted Syrian Army checkpoints at the gates of the town. After the bombings, ISIS and the Syrian loyalist had a fierce battle where ISIS was eventually successful. Qaryatain lies 85 kilometers from Homs, and is southwest of the recently captured city of Palmyra. The town was a gateway between ISIS fighters in the east and west. Its capture means the two groups of ISIS can now link up and support each other. The city has a mixed population of Sunni Muslims and Christians, as well as a large population of refugees who fled the city of Homs. The capture of Qaryatain has reversed a string of defeats ISIS has suffered in Syria after the capture of Palmyra. 

My Comment:

Looks like ISIS is on the march again in Syria. Not sure how important the town of Qaryatain is. From the maps I have seen it just seems like another town, not all that connected to any major front lines. I will say that if ISIS keeps heading west they may be able to cut the Syrian regime in half. If they are able to capture the string of cities and towns between them and the Lebanese border, they should be able to cut off Damascus and the south of the country from Homs, Aleppo and the coastal cities of the north. That would be absolutely devastating for the regime. 

Will it happen though? Who knows at this point. The Syrian regime is under immense pressure right now so anything could happen. Not only is ISIS tearing up the center of the country and threatening their isolated outposts in the east, al-Nusra is making advances in the north west and the more secular rebels in the south are making gains as well. In short, they may not have the forces available to blunt this offensive in the center of the country. It all depends on what fire they want to put out first, but I don't think they can take care of all the fires at once. 

ISIS hasn't had much luck in Syria lately. They haven't taken Hasakah in the northeast, despite major terrorist attacks and offensives there. They have also been pushed away from the Turkish border by the Kurds. Their only real successes have been against the Syrian regime itself, and even then, the last major victory they had was Palmyra, a couple of months ago. That isn't to say they aren't still a threat, it just means that this is the first victory they have had for awhile now. 

And from what it sounds, ISIS is still using the same tactics that have proven so effective in places like Ramadi and Mosul. They started with a series of suicide bombings to blow a hole through the enemy's defensive line and then rushed through the hole with light troops. It is such an effective tactic. Not only is in fairly effective, it is incredibly demoralizing when they pull it off. Suicide bombings are hard to prevent and they are effective at breaking enemy morale. 

I think ISIS will continue to use these tactics to take small towns and cities like Qaryatain for the foreseeable future. There isn't force in the region that is strong enough to counter these attacks and I think that ISIS may be in an even better position now that Turkey has entered the war.

Why? Because the Turks are preoccupied with fighting the Kurds. To date, the Kurds have been the most effective fighting force opposed to ISIS. With the Turks attacking the Kurds, many Kurdish fighters are abandoning the fight against ISIS to fight the Turks. Sure, Turkey has sent some token air raids against ISIS, but do they really outweigh the effect they are having on Kurdish forces? I would say no. 

Whatever happens though, Syria will remain a mess. My concern now lies with the people of Qaryatain. Hopefully, most of the people were able to flee. The fact that it is a mixed religion city means that there  is a real chance that there could be a massacre of anyone who is left. Officially, Christians are supposed to be given a choice: pay a tax, convert to Islam, or die. ISIS doesn't always give a choice though, and choose death or exile no matter what. And, of course, ISIS does not treat Sunni Muslims all that much better. No matter what the people of Qaryatain have to look forward to a religious police state that kills with little regard to justice.