Combing the desert | Two members of the National Defence kil-led by land*mine expl*osion
Two members of the regime-backed National Defence were killed due to the explosion of a landmine, during a combing operations in Palmyra desert in eastern Homs countryside searching for people missing in the desert, where the two victims hail from Al-Sokhna city in Homs countryside.
SOHR activists have confirmed the death of another regime soldier in the 18thDivision of the 131st Brigade in an attack by ISIS cells on a group of soldiers in Palmyra desert in the eastern countryside of Homs. The soldier was of “Al-Boali” tribe from Deir Ezzor province.
According to SOHR statistics, the number of fatalities in military operations in the Syrian desert since early 2023 has increased to 69; and they are as follows:
• Four ISIS members were killed in clashes with regime forces and Russian airstrikes on ISIS hideouts in the deserts of Homs, Al-Suwaidaa, Hama, Al-Raqqah, Deir Ezzor and Aleppo.
• 65 members of regime forces and their proxy militias, including 14 Iranian-backed Syrian and non-Syrian militiamen, were killed in 46 operations by ISIS members, including ambushes, armed attacks, and explosions, in west Euphrates region and the deserts of Deir Ezzor, Al-Raqqah, Homs, Al-Suwaidaa, Hama and Aleppo.
In addition, 94 civilians, including a woman, were killed in attacks by ISIS in the Syrian desert.
Here is a regional distribution of ISIS attacks in 2023:
-Homs desert: 17 operations left 106 fatalities:
• 29 combatants, including three Iranian-backed militias.
• 77 civilians, including a woman.
-Al-Raqqah desert: Seven operations left 16 fatalities:
• 11 regime soldiers
• Three ISIS members.
• One civilian.
• An NDF member.
-Deir Ezzor desert: 16 operations which left 26 fatalities:
• 24 combatants, including 11 Iranian-backed militias.
• One ISIS member.
• One civilian.
-Hama desert: Five operations left 12 civilians and one member of the National Defence Forces dead.
-Aleppo desert: One operation left three civilians dead.