Russia Today reporter Lizzie Phelan visits the devastated town of Al-Qaryatayn in the Homs Governorate of Syria after it was liberated from Islamic State/ISIS terrorists. Syrian government troops and local militia took over the town after several days of heavy fighting. Russia Today reports: Al-Qaryatayn had been held by terrorist groups since late August. The liberation of the city proclaimed April 3 came days after Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) was pushed out of the ancient city of Palmyra, 100km (60 miles) to the east. The army expects Al-Qaryatayn to serve as a springboard for further advances against IS strongholds in eastern Syria. “Al-Qaryatayn is at a junction that connects the Iraqi border with Palmyra and from Palmyra through to Damascus,” Ahmad Albuhamad, first lieutenant in the Tribesmen regiment, an ally of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), explained to RT. With the ancient city of Palmyra now retaken, pro-government forces are pressing ahead with their campaign to cut off IS supply routes through the oil and gas-rich desert around the city, Phelan reports. Al-Qaryatayn looks totally deserted – no sign of the hundreds who IS reportedly kidnapped there. Syrian forces retake strategic Christian town of al-Qaryatain https://t.co/EzRfnaH1Yp pic.twitter.com/WSMwn8ySSC — RT (@RT_com) April [...]