Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Syrian soldiers in the eastern part of the country, resulting in the death of at least 20 soldiers and injuries to others, according to reports from opposition activists on Friday. The attack, which occurred on Thursday night, is believed to have been carried out by members of ISIS. Despite their defeat in 2019, the terrorist group’s sleeper cells still remain active in some areas of Syria, engaging in deadly ambushes and hit-and-run attacks.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, reported that 23 soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in the attack on a desert road near the town of Mayadeen in Deir el-Zour province, which shares a border with Iraq. The observatory also stated that dozens of soldiers were missing following the attack, during which the jihadists surrounded the bus and opened fire.
Another activist group covering news in eastern Syria claimed that 20 soldiers were killed and others were injured. The state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official who confirmed the attack but provided no further details or a breakdown of the casualty numbers.
According to the observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman, ISIS has been increasing its deadly military attacks in an effort to cause as much destruction as possible. The group wants to demonstrate that they are still active and powerful despite the targeting of their leaders. In the past, ISIS controlled significant portions of Syria and Iraq, declaring a caliphate in 2014. However, they gradually lost their territory and were ultimately defeated in 2017 and 2019 in Iraq and Syria, respectively.
In February, ISIS sleeper cells carried out one of their deadliest attacks in a year, targeting workers collecting truffles near the town of Sukhna and resulting in the deaths of at least 53 people, mostly workers but also some Syrian government security forces. Experts who monitor extremist groups believe it is too early to determine if these recent attacks signify a resurgence of the extremists who once terrorized millions of people in Syria and Iraq.
Last week, ISIS announced the death of its little-known leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, in Syria and named his successor. He was the fourth leader to be killed since the death of the group’s founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, at the hands of U.S. troops in northwest Syria in 2019.
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