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Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
ISIS claims responsibility for 2 bomb explosions in Syria
May 31 (UPI) -- The Islamic State claimed responsibility for two bomb attacks in a remote region in southern Syria on Wednesday and Thursday. The twin bombings mark the first time ISIS has attacked the new Syrian government that took power in December and occurred in the remote Sweida Province. ISIS posted two online statements on Thursday claiming responsibility for the bombings that killed and wounded Syrian soldiers and militia members who are allied with the Syrian government, The New York Times reported. An attack occurred on Wednesday and struck a Syrian Army reconnaissance group that was tracking ISIS activities in the remote desert area, CNN reported. Those wounded in that attack are members of the Syrian Army's 70th Division, and the man who died was assisting the soldiers, according to The New York Times. ISIS used a remote-controlled land mine to target the vehicle in which they were traveling, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced. That attack occurred in the eastern portion of the Sweida Province and was the first attack carried out by ISIS and targeting forces allied with the new Syrian government. A second bombing occurred on Thursday in the same region, according to news reports and ISIS. ISIS said it killed and injured seven soldiers for the "apostate Syrian regime" by using an explosive device on a road in the Talul al Safa area in the Suwayda province in southern Syria, Al Jazeera reported. Both attacks occurred near Sweida in southern Syria, which is a mountainous desert area in which ISIS has operated for many years. Neither the Syrian government nor the Free Syrian Army has commented on either bombing. The United States backs the Free Syrian Army, which operates in the Sweida region's al Tanf Deconfliction Zone that is located near Syria's borders with Jordan. The United States maintains a small outpost in the area. ISIS also has operated in the area for a long time due to its "extremely rugged and dangerous" terrain, CNN reported. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump said he he was lifting "crippling" U.S. sanctions on Syria originally imposed to block flows of money into Syria, including aid, to put pressure on the brutal regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad. He met with the country's transitional leader, President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May14. Al-Sharaa, who was appointed president in January, has promised to hold elections once a new constitution is in place in around four years.
Sky News
3 days ago
- General
- Sky News
Islamic State group claims first attack on new Syrian government's forces since fall of Assad regime, says monitor
The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, has claimed its first attack on the new Syrian government's forces since longtime president Bashar al Assad was ousted, according to a war monitoring body. In a statement, ISIS said it had planted a bomb on a "vehicle of the apostate regime" in the desert of the southern province of Sweida on 22 May. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) identified it as the first attack to be claimed by IS against Syrian forces since the 54-year Assad family rule ended late last year. SOHR said the attack on government forces had killed one civilian and wounded three soldiers. Islamic State also claimed a second bomb attack this week in a nearby area, targeting members of the Free Syrian Army, which is backed by the United States. IS said it had killed one fighter and wounded three. Neither the government nor a spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army were immediately available to comment on the reports. ISIS opposes the new rule in Damascus led by President Ahmad al Sharaa, who once ran al Qaeda's branch in Syria and fought against IS. In January, state media said intelligence officials in the post-Assad government had thwarted an IS plan to detonate a bomb at a Shia Muslim shrine south of Damascus. ISIS once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq but was largely defeated in Syria in March 2019, when US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters captured the last sliver of land it controlled. But small cells have continued to carry out deadly attacks, and US Central Command estimates around 2,500 ISIS fighters remain at large across Iraq and Syria. In March, US forces said they had killed ISIS's latest leader in Iraq and Syria, Abu Khadija. 5:06 Last month, Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford revealed in a documentary that Yazidi women were still enslaved in ISIS detention camps, 10 years after ISIS carried out systematic slaughter and mass abductions on the minority group. How al Sharaa met Trump Syria's new de facto government took charge after launching a rapid offensive in November, backed by other opposition groups, culminating in the downfall of Assad's regime in December. Donald Trump met al Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al Jolani, during his Middle East tour in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, promising to lift crippling economic sanctions imposed on Damascus since the days of Assad. The White House said in a statement after the meeting that President Trump had urged President al Sharaa to diplomatically recognise Israel, "tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria" and help the US suppress any resurgence of IS.
New York Times
3 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Islamic State Says It Targeted Syrian Forces in Bombings
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for two bomb explosions, the first time the extremist group has directly targeted the new government since it took over in December, a war monitoring group said. In two statements posted online on Thursday and reported by the SITE Intelligence Group, ISIS claimed that bombs laid by its members had killed and wounded government soldiers and allied militia members. The Syrian government did not report any attacks by ISIS in the area, but announced that it had conducted two raids against Islamic State operatives in the Damascus area in the past week. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, reported that one person was killed and three members of the Syrian Army's 70th Division were wounded when a patrol was hit by a remote-controlled land mine in the east of Sweida Province on Wednesday. The man killed was accompanying the government forces, it said. The two attacks claimed by ISIS took place in the southern province of Sweida, where the group has not been active for the best part of a decade. But the government has struggled to establish security in the province, which is effectively controlled by the Druse minority. Sectarian clashes between local militants and pro-government forces in the province killed more than 100 in late April and early May. The Islamic State, which controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria a decade ago until U.S. and allied Syrian forces largely defeated it, has continued a low-level insurgency in eastern Syria since 2019. But it has shown a renewed vigor since the fall of the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December, plotting attacks even in the capital, Damascus, and claiming responsibility for a car bombing among other attacks in eastern Syria. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
ISIL (ISIS) launches first attacks against new Syrian government
ISIL (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for an attack on the Syrian army, representing the armed group's first strike at government forces since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, according to analysts. In a statement released late on Thursday, ISIL said its fighters had planted an explosive device that struck a 'vehicle of the apostate regime' in southern Syria. The bombing appears to mark an escalation by ISIL, which views the new government in Damascus as illegitimate but has so far concentrated its activities against Kurdish forces in the north. The blast, in the al-Safa desert region of Sweida province on May 22, reportedly killed or wounded seven Syrian soldiers. A second bomb attack, claimed by ISIL earlier this week, targeted fighters from the United States-backed Kurdish-led Free Syrian Army in a nearby area. ISIL said one fighter was killed and three injured. There has been no official comment from the Syrian government, and the Free Syrian Army has yet to respond. Members of the new Syrian government that replaced al-Assad after his removal in December once had ties to al-Qaeda – a rival of ISIL – but broke with the group nearly a decade ago. However, over the past several months, ISIL has claimed responsibility only for attacks against the Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast. The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the convoy blast was the first ISIL-claimed operation targeting the new Syrian military. ISIL was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 but maintains sleeper cells, particularly in the country's central and eastern deserts. While the group's capacity has been diminished, the latest attacks suggest it may be seeking to reassert itself amid shifting alliances and weakening state control.
The National
3 days ago
- General
- The National
ISIS claims first attack on Syrian government since fall of Assad regime
ISIS has claimed responsibility for two attacks in southern Syria, including one on government forces that an opposition war monitor described as the first on the Syrian army to be adopted by the extremists since the fall of Bashar Al Assad. In two separate statements issued late on Thursday, ISIS said that in the first attack, a bomb was detonated targeting a vehicle belonging to the regime, leaving seven soldiers dead or wounded. It said the attack occurred 'last Thursday,' or May 22, in the Al Safa area in the desert of the southern province of Sweida. The second attack, ISIS said, occurred this week in a nearby area during which a bomb targeted members of the US-backed Free Syrian Army, claiming that it killed one fighter and wounded three. There was no comment from the government on the claim of the attack 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 that the attack on government forces killed one civilian and wounded three soldiers, describing it as the first such attack to be claimed by ISIS against Syrian forces since the fall of the Assad regime. Earlier this month, Syrian security troops have started operations to 'eradicate' ISIS from urban centres, an Interior Ministry official told The National. Over the past several months, ISIS has claimed responsibility for attacks against the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the north-east. ISIS once controlled huge swathes of Syria and Iraq. But it was defeated in Syria in March 2019 when SDF fighters captured the last piece of land that the group held. Since then, its sleeper cells have carried out deadly attacks, mainly in eastern and north-east Syria. The Assad regime fell last December in the face of a lightening offensive, who now lead the new government in Damascus.
