IS attack in Syria kills three regime soldiers: war observers

Islamic State (IS) militants killed three Syrian regime soldiers in an attack on an army post in the Badia desert on Tuesday, a war monitor said.

The militants “attacked a place where … regime forces were stationed,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that a lieutenant colonel and two soldiers died.

The Syrian army has sent forces into the area where IS attacks are common ahead of a major attack, said the Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources in the country.

In an attack on May 3, IS fighters killed at least 15 Syrian regime supporters when they attacked three military positions in the desert, the Observatory reported.

In 2014, IS overran large parts of Syria and Iraq, proclaimed a so-called caliphate and began a reign of terror.

It was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019, but its remnants still carry out deadly attacks, particularly against pro-government forces and Kurdish-led fighters in the Badia desert.

The war in Syria has claimed more than half a million lives and displaced millions more since it began in March 2011, with the regime’s brutal suppression of anti-government protests.