CNN —
ISIS has claimed two attacks on Syrian security forces – the first since the transitional government under former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa took office.
The terror group, also known as Islamic State, said it had killed and injured seven members of “the apostate Syrian regime” with an explosive device that was detonated on a road in southern Syria. It said the attack took place in the remote desert area of Talul al Safa in the southern Syrian province of Suwayda.
A military source in the Suwayda region told CNN that a reconnaissance unit from the Free Syrian Army was ambushed Wednesday while tracking ISIS movements in the area. One fighter had been killed and three injured.
Units of the Free Syrian Army are supported by the US military in what is called the al Tanf Deconfliction Zone close to the borders with Jordan and Egypt, where the US has a small outpost.
The source added that the Talul al Safa area is “extremely rugged and dangerous area, as ISIS had been exploiting its terrain for a long time.”
ISIS lost almost all the territory it controlled in Syria by the end of 2017 but has maintained a foothold in Syria’s vast central desert. ISIS claimed another attack in the same area several days ago.
CNN has reached out to the government in Damascus for comment. Last week, the Syrian Interior Ministry said security forces operating in an area not far from where the attacks took place had seized “a number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), as well as weapons” at locations belonging to a terrorist cell affiliated with ISIS.
The Washington DC-based Institute for the Study of War says the group has likely maintained cells in southern Syria despite not carrying out any attacks there for at least two years.
The US and other Western governments have urged the new Syrian government to prevent a resurgence of ISIS and other terror groups on Syrian soil. But the government has struggled to extend its authority to Suwayda, where there have been clashes between Druze and Sunni groups.
