The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

15 days after the killing of 35 of their members…the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them and to Iran of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities carry out a military operation on positions of the organization in Al-Sukhnah Desert

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored clashes between the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them and to Iran of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities on one hand, against members of the “Islamic State” organization on the other, within the organization’s enclave which stretches in the Syrian Desert between Deir Ezzor and Homs provinces from Al-Bokamal in the north-east to Al-Sukhnah in the south-east, where the military operations by the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them and to Iran against the organization, were concentrated in Al-Sukhnah Desert in the eastern countryside of Homs in an attempt to eliminate the organization in its last stronghold, and these operations come after surprise attacks and ambushes by the organization in its last enclave, which resulted in the fall of human losses in the ranks of the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them.

These military operations come after the Syrian Observatory published on the 20th of April 2019, that the repercussions of the “Islamic State” organization’s attack on 2 battalions of the regime forces in al-Kom area north of Palmyra city in the eastern desert of Homs; are still reaping more lives of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the rise in death toll of the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them in a surprise attack by the “Islamic State” Organization on the area and lasted for 48 hours to 27 casualties, including at least 4 officers, in conjunction with an attack by the “Islamic State” Organization on positions of the regime forces in al-Quriyah Desert in the Eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, which  killed 8 members of the regime forces including 2 officers, raising to at least 35, the number of casualties of the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them in the past two days who were killed in ambushes, bombings, and attacks by the “Islamic State” organization in the deserts of Homs and Deir Ezzor, while at least 6 members of the “Islamic State” organization were killed during the previous attacks, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 18th of April 2019 that the number of casualties continues to rise after the attacks which were carried out by members of the “Islamic State” organization against positions and sites of the regime forces and their loyal militias in al-Kroom area north of Palmyra city in Homs Desert, where it rose to 15 at least, the number of members of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them who were killed in this ISIS attack, where the death toll increased after the death of injured members in addition to finding other bodies, and with the loss of more human casualties it rose to at least 29, the number of killed members of the regime forces and militias loyal to them who were killed since the 12th of April 2019, until Wednesday evening, during ambushes, bombings, and attacks by the “Islamic State” Organization in the deserts of Homs and Deir Ezzor, and the Syrian Observatory published this morning that the “Islamic State” Organization carried out a new attack against the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them in the Syrian desert, where members of the Organization attacked sites of the regime forces in al-Kom area, north of Palmyra city in the eastern Desert of Homs, in the context of the continuous activity of the organization in the whole desert through ambushes, attacks, and shelling, and the Syrian Observatory documented casualties against the backdrop of this new attack, where at least 7 of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them were killed, and the death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical situation, in addition to information about other casualties, raising to 21, the number of casualties of the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them who were killed within 6 days of attacks and ambushes by the “Islamic State” Organization in the desert of Deir Ezzor and Homs, and the Syrian Observatory published on the 14th of April 2019 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the killing of at least 14 members of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them in the last 48 hours in the Deir Ezzor Desert, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 4 members of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them were killed in the southeastern desert of Deir Ezzor, in an ambush by cells of the “Islamic State” in the area, and in the same context, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the killing of 10 other members of al-Quds al-Filastini Brigade loyal to the regime forces, during clashes against ISIS members in the southern Desert al-Mayadin, and the Syrian Observatory published on the 20th of February 2019 that at the time when the presence of the “Islamic State” Organization ended as a dominant force on a geographical spot on the east banks of Euphrates River; thousands of members are still spread over an area of about 4000 km² stretching from the nature reserve of Jabal Abu Rjameen north of Palmyra which includes trees within it, until the north of al-Sokhna and the western administrative border of Deir Ezzor province, these thousands of members are still trapped since 2017 by the regime forces, the Russian forces, and the Iranian forces there, without any military operation to eliminate them despite being surrounded, on the contrary; members of the Organization there are initiating occasional surprise attacks against sites of the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them and Russia.