At least 23 Syrian soldiers were killed in an attack by the jihadist group Islamic State on their bus in a desert area in the east of the country, an NGO reported on Friday.
At least 40 people, most of them members of regime forces, have been killed in three major attacks by the jihadist group in Syria since August 1.
“ISIS fighters attacked an army bus in the desert” in Deir Ezzor province on Thursday evening, killing at least “23 soldiers and wounding 10,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said.
The UK-based NGO, but which has an extensive network of sources in Syria, said dozens of other soldiers were missing in the attack.
It is the third major IS attack against the Syrian army since early August. On Monday, ten soldiers were killed in Raqa province and on August 1, seven people, including five Syrian soldiers, died in an attack on a convoy of fuel tankers in a desert area of central Syria.
Since early December, ISIS has ramped up its deadly attacks in Syria, despite losing its last strongholds in 2019. The group had been driven out by Kurdish forces and the US-led international anti-jihadist coalition.