SYRIA ISIS activity continues in Syrian desert despite multiple Syrian–Russian military operations

DAYRO ZCURO, Syria — Islamic State (ISIS) activity persists in the Syrian desert (Badia) despite multiple Syrian regime offensives to clear the region. The past week has seen a number of confrontations between ISIS and Syrian regime forces amidst other ISIS activity.

An armed group, possibly linked to ISIS, kidnapped three citizens from the eastern countryside of Hama, in the farms of Bayoud village in Al-Saan area. The militants also stole about 30 sheep and cars loaded with onions.

In related news, a fighter affiliated with the Syrian regime was killed and three others injured as a result of a suspected ISIS improvised explosive device (IED) in the countryside of Uqayribat in eastern Hama Province.

In the Badia south of Dayro Zcuro (Deir ez-Zor), a lieutenant in the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and a military commander of the National Defense Forces (NDF) were killed during confrontations with ISIS militants in the Syrian Badia, south of Dayro Zcuro.

Five members of the Al-Quds Brigade militia were killed after their vehicle detonated an explosive device near Jabal al-Bishri, west of Dayro Zcuro. The names of those killed were reported as Yousef Muhammad al-Kidir, Essam Muhammad al-Khalaf, Hasan Amir al-Husayn al-Muhammad, Ahmad Abdullah al-Alo, and Abd al-Majid Ahmad al-Hajj.

Official ISIS media outlet Amaq News Agency announced that a military vehicle of the Al-Quds Brigade had been targeted with an explosive device in the Al-Shumaytiyah region west of Dayro Zcuro. ISIS claimed to have killed three members of the militia in the attack.

An estimated 125 members of the regime-aligned National Defense Forces (NDF) defected to SDF areas in late-August due to increasing ISIS attacks in the area and to avoid partaking in the Badia operation.

The U.N. believes there are upwards of 10,000 ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq.

On the eastern side of the Euphrates River, a group of activists from Abu Hammam near Dayro Zcuro launched a political assembly, The Democratic Assembly of Albu Kamal Sons and its Countryside, to help develop public and private services in the region.

The group released a public statement in which they appealed to the people of the Dayro Zcuro to stand together in the face of the discord being sown within their regions and to work towards development, stability, and a sustainable peace.