So-called IS claims first attack on Syrian forces since al-Assad fall

Euronews

a day ago

The so-called Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for two attacks in southern Syria, including one on government forces that a war monitor described as the first on the Syrian army since the fall of long-time president Bashar al-Assad.
The so-called IS group said in a statement that in one attack, a bomb targeting a "vehicle of the apostate regime" detonated, leaving seven soldiers dead or wounded.
It said the attack occurred "last Thursday," in the al-Safa area in the southern province of Sweida.
In a separate statement, the group said another bomb attack occurred this week, targeting members of the US-backed Free Syrian Army. It claimed that one fighter was killed and three others wounded in that attack.
Syria's interim government hasn't commented on either of these claims and a spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack on government forces killed one civilian and wounded three soldiers, describing it as the first such attack to be claimed by the IS group against Syrian forces since the 54-year rule by the al-Assad family ended in December.
The extremist group, which once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, is opposed to the new authority in Damascus led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once the head of al-Qaeda's Syria branch, which fought battles against it.
Over the past several months, the IS group has claimed responsibility for attacks against the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast.
The IS group was defeated in Syria in March 2019 when SDF fighters captured the last sliver of land that the extremists controlled.
Since then, its sleeper cells have carried out deadly attacks, mainly in eastern and northeast Syria.
In January, state media reported that intelligence officials in Syria's post-al-Assad government thwarted a plan by the group to set off a bomb at a Shiite Muslim shrine south of Damascus.
Al-Sharra met with US President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, when the American leader said that Washington would work on lifting crippling economic sanctions imposed on Damascus since the days of al-Assad.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement after the meeting that Trump urged al-Sharaa to diplomatically recognise Israel, "tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria" and help the US stop any resurgence of the IS group.
Parallel to this, earlier this week the European Union lifted most sanctions on Syria but slapped new ones on people and groups it says participated in attacks on civilians during a wave of violence in the coastal region in March.
The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had announced plans to lift the sanctions last week, but warned the move was "conditional" and that sanctions could be resumed if the new government doesn't keep the peace.
Russia accused Serbia of exporting arms to Ukraine, calling it a "stab in the back" from one of Moscow's longest-standing European allies.
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) issued a statement on Thursday claiming that "Serbian defence enterprises, contrary to the 'neutrality' declared by official Belgrade, continue to supply ammunition to Kyiv.'
The statement alleged that the export of the Serbian arms to Ukraine was going through NATO intermediaries, "primarily the Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria."
"Recently, exotic options involving African states have also been used for this purpose," SVR said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić denied the accusations on Friday, saying that although the contract with the Czech Republic does exist, it does not allow exporting the materiel to another country.
"For example, they correctly say that there is a contract with the Czech Republic. But no permission was given, and none of the (ammunition) was delivered" to Ukraine, Vučić told Serbian state broadcaster RTS.
He added that he had already discussed the issue of arms exports to Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin recently and that it was agreed that Moscow and Belgrade would create a "working group" to establish how Serbian-made weapons reached Ukraine.
This is not the first time Vučić has had to respond to similar claims.
The Financial Times reported in June 2024 that Serbian ammunition worth €750 million has made its way indirectly to Ukraine.
In March, Belgrade denied it exported arms to Kyiv after Moscow demanded to know if it had delivered thousands of rockets for Ukraine's defence against Russia's all-out invasion.
Serbian arms' presence in Ukraine, mostly Soviet-era calibre ammunition adopted as standard and manufactured in the former Yugoslavia, has been publicly discussed since 2023, but it is unclear why the Russian foreign security service decided to react now.
The SVR has claimed that the arms sales are being carried out through a "simple scheme using fake end-user certificates and intermediary countries" serving as "a cover for anti-Russian actions".
The accusations out of Moscow went even further to say that "the contribution of Serbian defence industry workers to the war unleashed by the West, the outcome of which Europe would like to see as a 'strategic defeat' of Russia, amounts to hundreds of thousands of shells ... as well as a million rounds of ammunition for small arms".
'It seems that the desire of Serbian defence industry workers and their patrons to profit from the blood of fraternal Slavic peoples has made them completely forget who their real friends are and who their enemies are," the statement said.
Vučić stated that the attacks on Serbia from the East and the West are "frequent" because Belgrade "leads autonomous and independent policies".
Serbia is one of the countries in the Western Balkans that is considered a major candidate for EU membership. At the same time, Vučić has maintained close ties with Russia, including after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He was among a handful of European leaders to attend Putin's Victory Day parade in Moscow on 9 May, a decision Vučić defended by saying he was there to celebrate Serbia's participation in liberating the continent from fascism in World War II.
Serbia also refused to join Western sanctions on Russia and hasn't supported most EU statements condemning Moscow's full-scale invasion, although it voted in favour of its condemnation at the UN.