Islamic State (ISIS) militants killed 20 Syrian soldiers and affiliated pro-government forces on Thursday in two attacks on Syrian regime-controlled areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.
The war monitor said, “16 regime forces and pro-government gunmen were killed in an IS attack on a military bus in the eastern countryside of Homs province.”
Among the dead are at least nine members of the Quds Brigade, a group of Palestinian fighters that has received support from Moscow in recent years.
Four regime forces were killed in a separate ISIS attack in the Albukamal countryside in eastern Syria and two were taken hostage, the SOHR said.
The Britain-based war monitor also said ISIS militants executed eight Syrian soldiers after an ambush in late March and reported 14 troops killed by jihadists in previous days.
ISIS was defeated territorially in Syria in 2019 but its remnants continue attacks, especially in the Badia desert, which runs from the outskirts of Damascus to the Iraqi border.
