The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Three Syrian soldiers killed in bus ambush: state media

Syrian army soldiers are deployed in the town of Dahrat Abd Rabbo, in Aleppo province, Syria, in this handout released by SANA on February 17, 2020. (Reuters)
  • The attack took place in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor: state media
  • The Syrian Observatory said the Daesh extremist group was responsible

DAMASCUS: Gunmen in eastern Syria on Sunday ambushed a bus carrying government troops, killing three and wounding 10, state media said, the latest in a string of attacks.
“Three soldiers were killed, and 10 others were wounded after a bus came under attack by terrorist groups on a road,” Syria’s official SANA news agency said.
The attack took place in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, it said.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Daesh extremist group was responsible.
“A bus carrying Syrian soldiers was targeted by the Daesh group in the Shula desert” in Deir Ezzor, it said.
Daesh overran large parts of Syria and Iraq and proclaimed a cross-border “caliphate” in 2014, before multiple offensives in the two countries led to its territorial defeat.
The group was overcome in Syria in March 2019, but sleeper cells continue to launch attacks.
In recent months it has ramped up attacks against Syrian regime forces, especially in the east of the country bordering Iraq.
After a series of Daesh bus ambushes this month, regime forces launched a Russian-backed campaign on January 16 to secure a key artery in east Syria, according to the Observatory.
Russian warplanes launched more than 130 strikes targeting Daesh hideouts in an area stretching between Deir Ezzor and Homs province, according to the war monitor.
More than 387,000 people have been killed and millions forced from their homes since Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011.

Source: Three Syrian soldiers killed in bus ambush: state media