Islamic State terrorists have “executed” eight Syrian soldiers after an ambush, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday (March 31). WION could not immediately ascertain the nature of this ambush.
The war monitor also reported that the jihadists had killed 14 troops in recent days.
The Islamic State took over large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and proclaimed a “caliphate” in the region that led to a reign of terror.
The territorial defeat of the ISIS was complete in 2019. But its remnants continue to execute deadly attacks and their influence runs deep in the vast Badia desert, from the outskirts of Damascus to the Iraqi border.
These IS cells have been targeting pro-government forces and Kurdish-led fighters.
IS cells “executed eight members of the regime forces… including an officer” after the ambush this week in the desert in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Meanwhile, a bomb exploded in a shopping area in a northern Syrian city held by pro-Turkish forces on Sunday, killing eight people and wounding about two dozen people.
The Observatory said that “eight people were killed and 23 others wounded” when “a car bomb exploded in the middle of a popular market”.
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Islamic State jihadists also killed six other soldiers “after they were taken prisoner” in a separate ambush along Sukhna and Palmyra in Homs province.
Over 200 soldiers, affiliated fighters killed in ISIS attacks
According to the observatory, more than 200 soldiers and affiliated fighters have ben killed since the start of this year in the ambushes in the Syrian desert including in Deir Ezzor, Homs and Raqqa provinces, the observatory said.
These attacks have killed at least 37 civilians during the same period. The government forces have killed 24 IS members, according to the observatory.
The observatory said that with the recent escalation, the Islamic State is seeking to “show it is able to launch attacks despite having lost” its territorial control five years ago.
(With inputs from agencies)
