“The operation resulted in the complete dismantling of the terrorist cell, as it was revealed that its members were involved in carrying out assassinations” against five Iraqi nationals, Idlib security chief Ghassan Mohammed Bakir said, as cited by the state-run SANA news agency.
During the operation, a weapons depot containing explosive vests, bombs, sniper rifles, machine guns, and mortar shells was seized.
“A workshop dedicated to manufacturing and detonating explosives” was also located, according to Bakir.
ISIS attacks in Syria have largely been focused on the Kurdish-held regions of north and east Syria, but attacks in areas held by the new Damascus-affiliated authorities remain rare.
In June, a deadly bombing struck the Mar Elias Church in Damascus during Sunday mass. Two assailants opened fire on worshippers before detonating an explosive vest, killing 25 people and injuring 63 others. Damascus blamed ISIS for the attack.
ISIS rose to power and swept through swathes of Syria in a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate.”
But the militants were territorially defeated in 2019 as local Syrian and Kurdish fighters, supported by a US-led international coalition, clawed back territory from the group.
ISIS has continued to carry out attacks on Kurdish-led forces. On Wednesday, two Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters were killed in an ISIS attack in the eastern Deir ez-Zor province.
Kurdish-led forces are also intensifying their counter-ISIS raids. A senior ISIS operative was captured in northeast Syria’s (Rojava) Hasaka city on Wednesday, in an operation with support from the US-led global coalition.
