CNN
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ISIS claims two attacks on Syrian security forces. This was the first attack that the transitional government under former jihadist Ahmed Arshara took office.
A terrorist group, also known as the Islamic State, said it killed and injured seven members of the “apostasy Syrian regime” and was injured in an explosive device that exploded on a road in southern Syria. They said the attack took place in the remote desert region of Tarur Safa in Sweida province, southern Syria.
A military source in the Sweida region told CNN that a Free Syrian Army reconnaissance force was ambushed on Wednesday to track down the ISIS movement in the area. One fighter was killed and three were injured.
The Free Syrian Army units are supported by US forces called the Altamp Deobiotic Zone near the Jordanian-Egyptian border, where the US has a small front-post base.
Sources added that the Talul Al Safa area is “a very sturdy and dangerous area, and ISIS has been exploiting the terrain for a long time.”
ISIS lost almost all of the territory controlled in Syria by the end of 2017, but maintains its foothold in Syria’s vast central desert. ISIS claimed another attack in the same area a few days ago.
CNN contacted the government in Damascus for comment. Last week, Syrian Interior Ministry said security forces operating in areas not too far from where the attack occurred had seized “many improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and weapons” in places that belong to terrorist cells belonging to ISIS.
The Washington, D.C.-based War Institute says the group is likely to maintain cells in southern Syria, despite having not attacked for at least two years.
The US and other Western governments have urged the Syrian government to prevent the revival of ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syrian soil. However, the government is struggling to extend its powers to Sweida, where there has been clashes between the Druze and Sunni groups.
