ISIS in first attack on Syria forces since Bashar al-Assad fell

Islamic State killed a Syrian soldier with an ‘explosive device’ days after the US reopened its embassy in Damascus.

Islamic State fighters in Syria. Picture; al-Arabiya TV.

Islamic State has claimed its first attack on Syria’s new government forces since the fall of longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, two war monitors said.

In a statement picked up by SITE Intelligence Group, ISIS said it had planted an “explosive device” on a Syrian forces’ vehicle in the southern province of Sweida.

SITE and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the attack – which came days after the US reopened its embassy in Damascus – was the first ISIS-claimed attack on Syria’s new government. SOHR said that one person was killed and three members of the Syrian army’s 70th division were injured when a patrol was hit by a remote control landmine on Wednesday.

The man killed was accompanying the Syrian government forces in the desert area, according to SOHR.

Once in control of large swathes of Syria and Iraq, ISIS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 largely due to the efforts of Kurdish-led forces supported by an international coalition. It has maintained a presence mainly in the country’s vast desert.

Reported attacks by the group in areas controlled by the Islamist-led government, which took power after Assad’s ouster in December, have been scarce.

However, they have continuously carried out attacks on Kurdish-led forces in the northeast.

This week, Syrian authorities said they arrested members of an Islamic State cell near Damascus, accusing them of preparing attacks.

Another government operation in the northern city of Aleppo this month saw the death of one security forces officer and three IS members.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa transitioned into his role after leading the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was formerly al-Qaeda’s official wing in Syria, the Nusra Front.

During a meeting with Mr Sharaa in Riyadh this month, Donald Trump called on him to “help the United States to prevent to resurgence of IS”, according to the White House.

The attack came as the US reopened its embassy in Damascus. US Special Envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack told Arab media Donald Trump “will soon declare Syria a state that does not support terrorism.”