ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Russian and Syrian forces killed 20 militants in Syria, including those responsible for a bomb attack on an army bus, a Russian general was cited as saying on Sunday.
A joint security operation targeted Islamic State (ISIS) militants, Russian state media quoted Major General Oleg Yegorov as saying during a briefing, adding that the militants were involved in the attack on Syrian troops on Thursday.
Yegorov added among those killed were affiliates of ISIS operations in Daraa and Raqqa. There was no official comment from Syria.
A bomb attack targeting a bus carrying Syrian troops killed at least 18 soldiers and wounded 27 others, Syrian state media reported. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest of its kind so far.
Attacks targeting military buses have been a frequent occurrence over the past year. In August, 13 soldiers were killed in an attack, widely blamed on ISIS, on a military bus in the Syrian desert.
Russia has been the main backer of Assad’s regime since the breakout of an uprising and civil war in the country in 2011.
Daraa province, where the Syrian revolution in 2011 originated, has been under regime control since 2018, but some areas still remain under the influence of rebel groups.
ISIS seized control of vast swathes of Syrian land in 2014 but was declared territorially defeated in 2019 after forces of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) overran its last bastion in Baghouz.
While the group lacks any territorial presence on the ground, it still continues to pose serious security risks through bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions.
