Seven members of Syria’s security forces lost their lives on Wednesday in a tragic incident when the bus they were traveling in struck a landmine planted by ISIS in the Badia desert, located in the central region of the country, according to reports from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory, a reputable war monitor with an extensive network of sources on the ground in Syria, stated that the explosion occurred near the central city of Palmyra. The ISIS extremists had strategically placed the landmine, and it detonated upon the passage of a Syrian army bus, resulting in the casualties.
The incident resulted in the death of seven regime forces, with an additional 10 individuals sustaining injuries, as per the war monitor’s information.
ISIS, a radical group that took control of significant portions of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, declared a “caliphate” and unleashed a wave of terror. Although Iraq declared victory over the Sunni Muslim extremist group in 2017, and ISIS was territorially defeated in Syria two years later, isolated extremist cells persist in carrying out sporadic attacks in the expansive Badia desert, stretching from the outskirts of Damascus to the Iraqi border.
The ongoing conflict in Syria, triggered by anti-government protests in 2011, has resulted in a devastating toll, with over half a million lives lost and millions displaced as the conflict evolved into a multifaceted war involving foreign armies, militias, and extremist groups.
