ISIS resurgence | Four civilians killed and two others kidnapped while searching for truffle in Homs desert

SOHR activists have confirmed that four civilians were killed and two others were kidnapped in an armed attack by gunmen in four-wheel drive vehicles (4×4), believed to be of ISIS cells, while searching for truffle in Sha’er area in Palmyra countryside in the Syrian desert. The fate of the kidnapped remains unknown.

 

According to SOHR statistics, the number of fatalities in military operations in the Syrian desert since early 2023 has increased to 82; 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.

 

• 78 members of regime forces and their proxy militias, including 14 Iranian-backed Syrian and non-Syrian militiamen, were killed in 48 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, 105 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: 18 operations left 110 fatalities:

 

• 29 combatants, including three Iranian-backed militias.

 

• 81 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: 17 operations which left 30 fatalities:

 

• 28 combatants, including 11 Iranian-backed militias.

 

• One ISIS member.

 

• One civilian.

 

-Hama desert: Six operations left 19 civilians and nine combatants dead.

 

-Aleppo desert: One operation left three civilians dead.