Homs province: A member of ISIS and two members of the National Defence Forces were killed and three others sustained various injuries during armed clashes with machineguns between members of the National Defence Forces and ISIS members in Al-Sukhnah desert.
On the other hand, regime forces brought in military reinforcement to the site of the clashes, along with deployment of members of National Defense Forces and a state of high security alert in the region.
According to SOHR statistics, the number of fatalities in military operations in the Syrian desert since early 2023 has increased to 612; and they are as follows:
46 ISIS members were killed in clashes with regime forces and Russian airstrikes on ISIS hideouts in the deserts of Homs, Al-Suwaidaa, Hama, Al-Raqqah, Deir Ezzor and Aleppo.
399 members of regime forces and their proxy militias, including 61 Iranian-backed Syrian and non-Syrian militiamen, were killed in 167 operations by ISIS members, including ambushes, armed attacks, and explosions, in west Euphrates region and the deserts of Deir Ezzor, Al-Raqqah, Homs, Al-Suwaidaa, Hama and Aleppo.
167 civilians, including a woman, were killed in attacks by ISIS in the Syrian desert.
Here is a regional distribution of ISIS attacks in 2023:
– Homs desert: 57 operations left 258 fatalities:
148 combatants, including 26 Iranian-backed militias.
89 civilians, including a woman.
21 ISIS members.
– Al-Raqqah desert: 17 operations left 48 fatalities:
42 combatants.
Three ISIS members.
Three civilian.
– Deir Ezzor desert: 70 operations which left 198 fatalities:
164 combatants, including 30 Iranian-backed militias.
15 ISIS members.
19 civilian.
– Hama desert: 18 operations which left 97 fatalities:
53 civilians.
37 combatants, including five Iranian-backed militiamen.
Seven ISIS members.
– Aleppo desert: Four operations left five combatants, including two members of the 25th Division, and three civilians dead.
– Al-Suwaidaa desert: One operation left three combatants dead.