22 pro-regime fighters killed by IS in south Syria
“Islamic State group jihadists on Thursday killed 22 pro-regime fighters including 11 soldiers among them two officers, in surprise attacks in southern Syria”, a monitor said.
Twelve jihadists also killed in the assaults in the desert of the southern province of Sweida, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. These were the first attacks of their kind in the area, where no IS presence had been noted in more than a year, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
IS has increased its attacks against pro-regime forces since its fighters in May left their last stronghold near Damascus under an evacuation deal with the regime. The new toll brings to 184 the number of pro-regime troops killed in more than two weeks of jihadist attacks across the country since May 22. At least 92 jihadists were killed during that same period.
IS in 2014 proclaimed a cross-border “caliphate” in Syria and neighboring Iraq, but has since lost most of that territory to separate offensives by Russia-backed regime troops and a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance.
