The Syrian Desert: ISIS escalates its attacks… despite Russian raids

ISIS has resumed its attacks against Syrian regime forces and militias supporting it in the Syrian desert, despite the return of Russian aircraft to launch air strikes against its cells, which led to the death of a number of its fighters following a number of violent attacks that killed dozens of regime soldiers.

The attacks continue

Field sources told Al-Modon that cells affiliated with the extremist organization launched an attack on Monday against regime forces in the Deir ez-Zor desert in northeastern Syria, adding that violent clashes broke out between the two sides, leading to deaths and injuries among regime forces.

For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 3 militia members were wounded as a result of the clashes between the two sides.

Since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, ISIS attacks have increased in the western part of northeastern Syria, in the part under the control of the Syrian regime and Iranian militias.

A week ago, the Observatory said that 5 regime members were killed as a result of a new attack by ISIS members on military checkpoints in the desert of the eastern countryside of Homs, adding that clashes broke out on the outskirts of the village of Al-Tayba and Al-Koum, north of the city of Al-Sukhnah in the region.

The organization had launched a bloody attack on regime forces about two weeks ago, targeting military sites in the Rusafa desert in the triangle linking the governorates of Raqqa, Homs, and Deir ez-Zor, which led to the killing of 34 members and the wounding of others.

Deaths in Russian raids
The scene of an increase in extremist organization attacks on regime forces coincided with the return of the momentum of bombing by Russian aircraft on sites where ISIS fighters were hiding in the Syrian desert, but to a lesser extent than was the case before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

The Observatory said that Russian aircraft launched, for the fourth day in a row, air strikes on sites where ISIS cells were hiding in the Sukhna desert in the Homs countryside, in conjunction with a sweeping operation launched by regime forces and allied militias in the Homs desert.

The raids led to the killing of 6 ISIS members, while 4 members of the regime forces were killed during clashes with members of the extremist organization.

It is clear that the regime forces began to sense the danger of the organization’s cells approaching the Sukhna desert and Palmyra, which prompted them to launch a sweeping operation in the vicinity of this region, and this is reinforced by the concentration of the organization’s last four operations in this region, as well as the Russian raids.

Earlier, cross sources confirmed to Al-Modon that the organization’s cells were getting closer to the cities of Sukhna and Palmyra in their operations, and were now stationed only approximately 17 kilometers from Sukhna.