File image.
For the first time since the fall of the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad, ISIS has claimed an attack against the forces of Syria’s new Islamist-led Interim Government.
In a brief statement published by the Amaq news agency on May 29, the terrorist group said that an explosive device planted by its members blew up a vehicle of “the apostate Syrian regime” in the area of Tulul al-Safa, which lies between the western and northern countryside of al-Suwayda. The attack left seven government fighters dead or wounded, according to the group.
Earlier, the Syrian state-run news channel, Al-Ikhbariah, reported that six people were wounded when an explosive device struck an ambulance transporting kidney dialysis patients on the Ariqa-Najran road in the western countryside of al-Suwayda.
ISIS announced in a separate statement, also published by the associated Amaq news agency on the same day, that another explosive device targeted a vehicle of the Syrian Free Army (SFA). The group said that a fighter was killed and three others were wounded in the attack.
There was no comment from the SFA, an armed group backed by the United States that has been also coordinating with the Interim Government.
Following the fall of the Assad regime last December, it was reported that ISIS took over loads of weapons which were left behind by the former Syrian Arab Army and began working on organizing and training its cells to start a new insurgency against the Interim Government.
Earlier this month, ISIS criticized Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa over his recent meeting with United States President Donlad Trump in the Saudi capital, Riyah. The terrorist group considered, in an editorial in its weekly newspaper, Al-Naba, that the meeting revealed a clearer picture of Sharaa ideological disagreement with the so-called “Islamic State”.
Sharaa himself was a lieutenant of ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. When the war first broke out in Syria, al-Baghdadi sent al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohamad al-Julani, to Syria to found the Nusra Front.
As the group evolved, it broke ties with ISIS and later al-Qaeda, eventually rebranding as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. The group led the final offensive that brought down the Assad regime. It then went on to dissolve itself after installing the Interim Government.
Syrian government forces launched a series of operations against ISIS cells in recent weeks, from Aleppo, to Damascus, Daraa and Deir Ezzor. Still, the recent attacks indicate that the terrorist group is only getting bolder.
ISIS has already called on Syrians and foreign jihadists in government forces to defect and join its ranks. The group is clearly preparing to wage a seiouse insurgency, and may be even setting the stage for a large-scale offensive similar to the one that took down Assad.
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