11 Syrian soldiers and 2 civilians killed by ISIS attack in Raqqa desert

"The death toll is believed to rise as there are some people seriously injured."
Syrian government forces fire toward ISIS positions in Homs province (Photo: AFP/file photo)
Syrian government forces fire toward ISIS positions in Homs province (Photo: AFP/file photo)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Eleven Syrian soldiers and two civilians were killed on Monday in a suspected terrorist attack that targeted a bus on the highway between Raqqa and Homs, according to Syria's state-run SANA news agency. 

"At about 6:30 this morning, a civilian bus was subjected to a terrorist attack on the Raqqa-Homs highway in al-Jira area, which led to the martyrdom of eleven army personnel and two civilians and the injury of three other army personnel," a military source said in a statement to SANA.

According to a report by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor, at least 15 Syrian government soldiers were killed. 

"The death toll is believed to rise as there are some people (were) seriously injured," SOHR said.

In October 2017, the SDF liberated Raqqa from ISIS with support from the US-led coalition. However, southwest Raqqa province is controlled by Syrian government forces. 

Read More: In Raqqa, the Syrian government remains unwelcome

Since ISIS lost all the territory that once made up its self-styled caliphate in March 2019, it found a haven in Syria's Badia desert. Syrian government forces and Iranian and Russian-backed groups based in central Syria control large parts of that desert and often clash with ISIS. 

Badia desert encompasses large parts of Homs province, northeastern Hama province, western Deir ez-Zor (Deir al-Zor) province, and southern Raqqa province. 

ISIS has continued to carry out hit-and-run attacks on the Syrian government and Iran-backed forces.

Read More: Russia carries out 10 airstrikes in Syria's Raqqa and Homs

Russia carries out regular airstrikes against ISIS in that desert.

Five members of the pro-Syrian government Palestinian Jerusalem Brigade were also killed in an ISIS attack in the Al-Sokhna desert in Homs, SOHR reported last Friday,

Moreover, at least nine Syrian soldiers were killed on Thursday by an ISIS attack on a military bus in Syria's desert.