IS scored ‘opportunistic’ wins in Syria as Aleppo fell
AFP on December 24, 2016, 12:37 am Paris (AFP) – The Syrian regime’s all-out offensive to recapture Aleppo enabled the Islamic State group to regain territory elsewhere, including the historic city of Palmyra, and has dimmed prospects of defeating the jihadists, experts say. “The resources deployed (by Damascus and its allies) to retake Aleppo have allowed IS to claim a series of opportunistic victories” in Syria, said Charles Lister of the US think-tank Middle East Institute. During the assault by Syrian, Russian and Iranian forces on rebels in eastern Aleppo, IS jihadists recaptured the historic city of Palmyra on December …