Beirut. The Islamic State (IS) group killed 20 Syrian soldiers and fighters from pro-government forces in two attacks against areas controlled by Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said on Thursday.
“Sixteen soldiers from the regular army and fighters from pro-government forces were killed in an attack by IS against a military bus in the east of Homs province,” said the NGO based in the United Kingdom, but which has a wide network of sources. In Syria.
Among the dead are at least nine members of the Al Quds Brigades, a group of Palestinian fighters that received support from Moscow, an ally of Damascus, in recent years, according to the OSDH.
“Four Syrian soldiers were killed in another IS attack against a base near Albukamal,” in eastern Syria, the NGO added.
At the end of March, IS fighters “executed” eight Syrian soldiers after an ambush, said the OSDH, which also reported the death of 14 soldiers at the hands of jihadists in the previous days.
IS, which came to control large swaths of Syria and Iraq in 2014, was defeated in 2019 by an international coalition led by the United States and Kurdish forces.
However, its fighters continue to launch deadly attacks, especially in the vast Badia desert, which stretches from the outskirts of Damascus to the border of Iraq.
These are usually directed against pro-government forces and Kurdish-led fighters.
The war in Syria has claimed more than half a million lives and displaced millions of people since it broke out in March 2011.
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– 2024-04-24 20:30:12
