ISIS launched consecutive attacks on Friday against regime forces and their allied Iranians and members of Lebanese Hezbollah in the al-Boukamal area. At least 48 of the regime forces and their allies died in 72 hours of clashes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Among the dead was a Hezbollah leader and a high-ranking commander within the Syrian army, as wells as militiamen from Iraq, Iran, and elsewhere in Asia.
On Monday, ISIS militants withdrew into the desert before the regime forces were able to re-organize and trap the militants in the city, the Observatory said, noting that 32 ISIS fighters were also killed.
With the withdrawal of ISIS, calm has prevailed in al-Boukamal, the Observatory noted.
Al-Boukamal has exchanged hands several times in the war against ISIS. Syrian forces have struggled to secure the strategic city that is the last major urban centre before the border with Iraq.
