ISIS kills three regime forces in Syrian desert: Monitor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least three Syrian regime soldiers were killed on Wednesday in an desert ambush by Islamic State (ISIS) cells in Syria’s central Hama province, a war monitor reported. 

“Three regime forces were killed in a surprise ambush by ISIS cells that targeted them while they were in the Athriya area in the Hama countryside,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. 

The militants withdrew into the Syrian desert following the attack, according to the Observatory. 

ISIS rose to power and seized control of swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate.”

While the group was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 respectively, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, especially across the vast expanses of the Syrian desert and several Iraqi provinces disputed between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). 

On Monday, a joint operation by the US army and Kurdish-led forces captured an ISIS leader in Syria accused of helping ISIS fighters escape from prison in Raqqa. 

Over in Iraq, another joint operation by the Iraqi and US armies in the vast desert of western Anbar province on Thursday killed 16 ISIS militants. 

According to data from the Observatory, 428 Syrian regime soldiers and pro-Iran militants have been killed by ISIS militants in Syria since the start of the year. The attacks have also killed 54 civilians.