ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least four pro-regime soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a desert attack by Islamic State (ISIS) cells in northern Raqqa province, a war monitor reported, amid fears of a resurgence of the terror group.
“Armed men from ISIS launched a surprise attack with light and medium weapons in the deep of the Syrian desert, targeting military points of the National Defense Forces [NDF] … and killing four members of the militia,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
ISIS attacks have been on the rise in Syria, particularly in the vast expanses of its eastern and northern deserts where the terror group launches surprise attacks amid a security vacuum.
On Monday, ISIS killed 11 unsuspecting truffle hunters in the Raqqa desert, days after five people, including NDF fighters, were killed in an ISIS attack in the same area while hunting for truffles.
The NDF is a pro-government militia that has fought alongside President Bashar al-Assad since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.
ISIS rose to power and seized 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 2019, 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 as well as several Iraqi provinces.
