Russian airstrikes kill seven ISIS members in retaliation for deadly attack on Syrian govt forces

At least 34 members of pro-Assad forces were killed in the Syrian desert on Wednesday.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2023/11/08 21:36

Syrian soldiers carry a casket during the funeral of the victims of a drone attack targeting a Syrian military academy, outside a hospital in government-controlled Homs, Oct. 6, 2023. (Photo: Louai Beshara/AFP)

Syria SOHR Russia ISIS Syrian Arab Army National Defense Forces

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Wednesday that seven ISIS members were killed by Russian airstrikes in central Syria in retaliation for ISIS killing 34 Syrian security forces earlier.

SOHR said the Russian strikes were carried out in the Homs-Al-Raqqa-Deir ez-Zor triangle in central Syria.

The SOHR report said this was the bloodiest attack by members of ISIS since the beginning of 2023, as they attacked positions of regime forces and the pro-Assad NDF (National Defense Forces) in the Syrian desert between Al-Shukhnah and Al-Rusafah.

The report added that the death toll is expected to increase due to the large number of serious injuries among the pro-Assad forces

Charles Lister, a senior fellow and director of the Syria and Counterterrorism and Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute, tweeted that ISIS launched a major set of simultaneous assaults on pro-Assad positions north of al-Sukhna and south of Raqqa overnight, killing at least 30.

Lister added that this is more evidence of ISIS capabilities in the “regime-'held' Badiya (desert areas) and growing pressure on al-Sukhna (Northeast of Palmyra) in particular.”

ISIS in Syria is particularly active in remote zones of the Syrian desert, often near more densely populated areas, and has faced limited pressure from pro-Assad forces and Iranian-backed armed groups.

ISIS has carried out regular attacks on pro-Assad forces, killing dozens in surprise attacks.The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has previously suggested in August that anti-ISIS operations conducted by the Syrian government and Iran-backed forces in the desert have shown limited effectiveness.