ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least seven people, including two civilians, were killed in an armed attack by the Islamic State (ISIS) on an oil tanker convoy in the Syrian desert on Tuesday, according to a war monitor.
UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that ISIS attack oil tankers guarded by the Syrian army, east of Hama province, killing five Syrian soldiers and two of the drivers.
The attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, the monitor said. Since the beginning of the year, SOHR reported that at least 157 civilians have been killed in ISIS attacks across the Syrian desert.
After their territorial defeat in March 2019 to a military operation led by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and backed by a United States-led global coalition, ISIS militants have carried out hit and run attacks on civilians and military targets of both the Syrian regime and the Kurdish-led authority in the northwest of the country.
Last week, ISIS claimed responsibility for a deadly explosion that rocked the Syrian capital of Damascus which killed at least six people and injured 20 others. The jihadist group claimed the attack had killed 10 and wounded 40.
Civil war broke out in Syria in 2011 after the government’s brutal crackdown on protests and the security situation continues to be fragile ever since.
The conflict then erupted into multiple fronts with the emergence of ISIS, constant fighting between Kurdish forces and Turkey as well as Turkish-backed proxies, Israeli attacks on pro-Iran factions, and tit-for-tat attacks between the US and Iran. Russia has also backed the Syrian government, while about a thousand US troops are stationed in Syria to fight ISIS remnants.
