The attack left dozens of pro-government forces and Syrian soldiers dead. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed Friday to have “attacked two buildings of the Syrian army and national defense forces the day before yesterday, Wednesday, with light and semi-heavy weapons,” in a statement released by its organ. press, Amaq.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) had previously indicated that 34 soldiers and army auxiliaries had died in this simultaneous attack on military positions and checkpoints in the desert which extends from the central province from Homs to the eastern border with Iraq, passing through the province of Deir Ezzor.
The jihadist group resumes activity
The jihadist group has recently intensified its attacks in Syria, particularly from the desert areas where its fighters have retreated after the loss in 2019 of the vast territories it controlled in this country.
After a meteoric rise to power in 2014 in Syria and Iraq, IS saw its self-proclaimed “caliphate” falter under the influence of successive offensives launched in these two countries with the support of an international anti-jihadist coalition. The defeat of ISIS in Syria was declared in 2019 (and in Iraq in 2017), but the coalition remained in the country to fight against jihadist cells which continue to operate there.