At least 15 pro-regime fighters were killed and several others injured on Monday in an ambush claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group against a military bus near Raqqa in northern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Man (OSDH).
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“Members of the jihadist group IS attacked a military bus in the Jabal Bishri area of Raqqa province killing 15 pro-regime fighters and injuring several others“, indicated the Observatory. The attack took place on a road that connects the city of Raqqa, under the control of Kurdish forces and “where IS is still active“, to that of Homs, under the control of the regime, adds the OSDH, without being able to specify whether they are soldiers of the Syrian army or members of militias allied to the regime. The OSDH indicated that the toll could increase, most of the injured being in critical condition. IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published by its propaganda outlet Amaq, saying the jihadists killed 13 people on the bus before setting it on fire.
The official Syrian agency Sana also reported 13 deaths in the attack. “Eleven soldiers and two civilians were killed in the attack which took place at 6:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. GMT)“said the agency citing a military source. OSDH director Rami Abdel Rahmane said the attack was the deadliest since early March, when 15 soldiers were killed in an IS attack in the Syrian desert of Palmyra. On May 13, ten soldiers were killed when rebels fired a missile at their bus in Aleppo province. It was the deadliest rebel attack since the 2020 truce, according to the OSDH.
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The self-proclaimed IS caliphate was declared defeated in March 2019 in Syria, but cells of the jihadist group continue to carry out attacks against government and Kurdish forces, especially in the desert. On January 20, IS launched an assault on a prison held by Kurdish forces in the northeast of the country, killing dozens. The leader of the ultra-radical group, Abu Ibrahim al-Hachimi al-Qurachi, was killed ten days later by American special forces in Atme, in the province of Idlib (northwest), the last great jihadist and rebel stronghold. in Syria. The war in Syria has claimed around 500,000 lives, devastated the country’s infrastructure and displaced millions of people since its outbreak in 2011.