ISIS kills 3 Syrian army soldiers in Raqqa: Monitor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Syrian regime military vehicle was hit on Sunday when an Islamic State (ISIS) improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in the northern city of Raqqa, killing three Syrian soldiers, a conflict monitor reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor, reported that three Syrian soldiers, including a lieutenant, were killed in the explosion. 

The explosion occurred while they were conducting reconnaissance operations in the Raqqa desert, according to SOHR.

Damascus, with Russian air support, has been carrying out an expansive sweeping operation in areas where ISIS remains active with increased extremist attacks, killing many Syrian government and pro-regime soldiers. 

ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraq and Syria in a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring its so-called “caliphate”.

While the group was declared territorially defeated in Syria in 2019, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, especially across the vast desert. 

Earlier this month, ISIS gunmen killed four Syrian army officers in a desert attack on a regime military position in Jubb al-Jarah in eastern Homs.

In June, at least 19 Syrian regime soldiers were killed in separate deadly ISIS attacks in the Homs desert.

According to data compiled by SOHR, 402 members from the Syrian regime forces and Iran-backed militia groups have been killed by ISIS since the start of the year. The attacks also have resulted in the death of 46 civilians, including a woman and a child.