ISIS extremists were driven back on several fronts in Syria yesterday as the army exploited the ceasefire with Western-backed insurgents.

Syrian forces retook more villages south of al-Bab in northern Aleppo province from the death cult.

And they took full control of Lake Jabboul and the road running south to Homs province after Isis apparently began to pull out of the province.

In al-Bab, invading Turkish forces and their Free Syrian Army allies gained footholds in the west of the town.

But Isis still controls 90 per cent of al-Bab and is holding out in Bazaa and Qabasin to the east after months of fierce fighting.

The Hawar News Agency reported that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, led by the Kurdish people’s protection units, were just seven miles from the Isis stronghold of Raqqa after liberating villages north-east of the city.

Further south, the army advanced closer to the ancient city of Palmyra.

On Tuesday the US-led bombing coalition said it had destroyed dozens of Isis vehicles in a series of air strikes on Palmyra on Monday.

And in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, defending troops drove back besieging Isis fighters under heavy air raids.

In Damascus, the Justice Ministry rejected Amnesty International’s claims of mass executions at the Saydnaya prison, branding it part of a media campaign to discredit Syria after the recent string of victories.

It said the report, which estimated that up to 13,000 people had been executed after sham two-minute trials over a four-year period, was “not based on correct evidence but on personal emotions that aim to achieve well-known political goals.”

It called the allegations — made after extensive interviews with former detainees as well as ex-guards and judges at the prison — “baseless” and insisted that all executions in Syria follow due legal process.

The Syrian government did not allow Amnesty access to the prisons to verify its reports.

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