Sixteen Syrian soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a minefield laid by the Islamic State (IS) group and during an attack by the IS fighters in the Homs desert, a monitor reported on Wednesday.
The soldiers were “killed after they found themselves in a minefield and were attacked by members of the IS group,” stated the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The troops, supported by Russian air forces, had been conducting a multi-day anti-IS operation in the Sukhna desert area of Homs province, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources within Syria.
IS, which seized large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014 and declared a so-called caliphate, has continued its deadly attacks despite being territorially defeated in Syria in 2019. The group remains active in the vast Badia desert, stretching from Damascus to the Iraqi border, primarily targeting government loyalists and Kurdish-led fighters.
The Observatory reported that at least 348 Syrian government loyalists have been killed this year in IS ambushes and attacks in the desert.
Earlier this month, six shepherds were killed in an IS attack on a village in the eastern Homs countryside, the Observatory noted.
A United Nations report released in January estimated IS’ combined strength in Iraq and Syria to be between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters, with the Badia desert serving as a key logistics and operations hub for the group in Syria.
The UN warns that more than 14 million people in Syria are at risk from explosive ordnance contamination. Joseph McCartan from the United Nations Mine Action Service in Syria highlighted the need for $26 million to carry out planned humanitarian mine action and other initiatives this year, with funding being the primary challenge.
“Demining operations are quite costly, and the area suspected to be contaminated in Syria is quite expansive,” he added.
The ongoing conflict in Syria has claimed over half a million lives and displaced millions since it began in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests by Damascus.
