IS ambushes dozens of Syrian soldiers

AP quoted informed sources as saying that the attack took place last night (August 10) and was carried out by members of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) organization.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed that 23 Syrian soldiers were killed and 10 others were wounded in the attack on a desert road near the town of Mayadeen, in eastern Deir el-Zour province, bordering Iraq.

The Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying the attack “killed and wounded a number of soldiers”. However, the source did not provide further details or casualties.

IS phục kích chớp nhoáng, hàng chục binh sĩ Syria thiệt mạng - Ảnh 1.

An image of an IS gunman seen in Baghouz – Syria in 2019. Photo: AP

IS once controlled much of Syria and Iraq and declared the establishment of the so-called Islamic State in June 2014. The organization was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. However, the remaining elements continue to hide in the desert, carrying out ambushes and lightning attacks.

Recently, IS elements have increased attacks in northern and eastern Syria.

IS gunmen attacked a group of workers harvesting mushrooms in the eastern Syrian town of Sukhna in February, killing 53 people, including several members of the Syrian government security forces.

On August 8, 10 Syrian soldiers and government supporters were killed in another IS attack in their former stronghold in Raqqa province, northern Syria.

The latest attack comes as IS last week confirmed the death of its leader Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi in Syria.

According to Reuters news agency, an IS spokesman announced on his Telegram channel on August 3 that Quraishi was killed in a gunfight with the extremist Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) in northwestern Syria. IS later announced Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Quraishi as the replacement for the recently deceased leader.

Quraishi is the fourth IS leader to be killed since founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed by US forces in northwestern Syria in 2019.

Source