Islamic State group jihadists killed eight people, including two civilians, in an ambush on pro-government militiamen in Syria’s Badia desert. The attack occurred on Wednesday evening as the militiamen were en route to search for a kidnapped shepherd. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor with sources in Syria, reported a death toll of eight, including “six members of the National Defence Forces and two sheep herders.”
IS overran large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a so-called caliphate and launching a reign of terror. It was defeated territorially in Syria in 2019, but its remnants still carry out deadly attacks, particularly in the Badia desert, targeting government loyalists and Kurdish-led fighters. The desert runs from the outskirts of Damascus to the Iraqi border.
Last month, the Observatory said IS fighters had killed nearly 4,100 people in Syria since its caliphate fell in 2019, with more than half of those deaths occurring in the Badia. The United Nations reported in January that IS’ combined strength in Iraq and Syria was 3,000-5,000 fighters, with the Badia serving as a hub for the group in Syria.
Syria’s war, which began in March 2011 with Damascus’ repression of anti-government protests, has killed over half a million people and displaced millions more.
