Islamic State group claims first attack on new Syria forces since Assad fall
The Islamic State (IS) group claimed its first attack on Syria's new government forces since the fall of longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, two war monitors said on Wednesday, May 29.
SITE Intelligence Group said it was the first IS-claimed attack on Syria's new government, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying that one person was killed and three members of the Syrian army's 70th division injured when their patrol was hit by a remotely detonated landmine on Wednesday.
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Euronews
14 hours ago
- Euronews
Russia and North Korea violate UN sanctions in Ukraine, report says
Western allies have accused Russia and North Korea of flagrantly breaching UN sanctions through close military cooperation that has enabled Moscow to intensify its missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, as its all-out war continues into its fourth year. The joint condemnation was part of the first report issued by the newly formed Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, which has been tasked with tracking Pyongyang's sanctions violations since last year. The 29-page document, compiled by the US, the UK, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand, asserts that Pyongyang and Moscow have carried out many 'unlawful activities' prohibited by existing UN resolutions. North Korea has supplied Russia with weapons and military equipment, including ballistic missiles, artillery shells and armoured vehicles for use in Moscow's war against Ukraine, according to the report. Citing intelligence from an unnamed country, the monitoring team said that as many as nine million artillery and rocket rounds were delivered from North Korea to Russia last year in Russian-flagged cargo ships. It also confirmed the transfer of at least 100 ballistic missiles, which were launched into Ukraine 'to destroy civilian infrastructure and terrorise populated areas such as Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia". Photographic evidence in the report shows ammunition containers, artillery systems and anti-tank weapons believed to have been manufactured in North Korea and recovered in Ukraine. Pyongyang's support has 'contributed to Moscow's ability to increase its missile attacks against Ukrainian cities including targeted strikes against critical civilian infrastructure", the coalition said. The report further states that more than 11,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia since October 2024, gaining battlefield experience while supporting Russia's war effort. In return for such help, Russia is said to have transferred air defence systems to North Korea, trained its troops and provided petroleum products far beyond the UN-mandated cap. The monitoring team, which urged Pyongyang to 'engage in meaningful diplomacy", warned that both countries appear intent on deepening their military alliance. UN sanctions against North Korea began in 2006 following its first nuclear test, and were expanded through a series of resolutions aimed at restricting funding for its weapons programmes. The last such resolution was adopted in 2017. Since then, Russia and China have blocked further action, including a 2022 US-led push to impose new sanctions in response to North Korea's missile launches. 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.
Euronews
14 hours ago
- Euronews
So-called IS claims first attack on Syrian forces since al-Assad fall
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.
France 24
19 hours ago
- France 24
Islamic State group claims first attack on new Syria forces since fall of Assad regime
The Islamic State (IS) group on Thursday claimed its first attack on Syria 's new government forces since the fall of longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, two war monitors said. In a statement picked up by SITE Intelligence Group, IS said it had planted an "explosive device" on a Syrian forces' vehicle in the southern province of Sweida. SITE and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said it was the first IS-claimed attack on Syria's new government. SOHR said that one person was killed and three members of the Syrian army's 70th division were injured when a patrol was hit by a remote control landmine on Wednesday. The man killed was accompanying the Syrian government forces in the desert area, according to SOHR. Once in control of large swathes of Syria and Iraq, IS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 largely due to the efforts of Kurdish-led forces supported by an international coalition. It has maintained a presence mainly in the country's vast desert. Reported attacks by the group in areas controlled by the Islamist-led government, which took power after Assad's ouster in December, have been scarce. However, they have continuously carried out attacks on Kurdish-led forces in the northeast. This week, Syrian authorities said they arrested members of an Islamic State cell near Damascus, accusing them of preparing attacks. Another government operation in the northern city of Aleppo this month saw the death of one security forces officer and three IS group members. Although the US was initially circumspect about Syria's new leaders, with the Islamist insurgent group previously led by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa still listed as a terrorist organisation by Washington, the Trump administration has in recent weeks shown increasing openness to Damascus. During a meeting with al-Sharaa in Riyadh this month, US President Donald Trump called on him to "help the United States to prevent the resurgence of IS", according to the White House.
