Islamic State militants killed four Syrian government security personnel in northern Syria on Monday, the Syrian state news agency reported, in what would be the group's deadliest attack on government forces since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
The assault on a checkpoint west of Raqqa city underlined an escalation in attacks by the jihadist group against President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government © Mena Today
Islamic State militants killed four Syrian government security personnel in northern Syria on Monday, the Syrian state news agency reported, in what would be the group's deadliest attack on government forces since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
The assault on a checkpoint west of Raqqa city underlined an escalation in attacks by the jihadist group against President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government, two days after the jihadist group declared "a new phase of operations" against it.
Islamic State issued no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attack. On Saturday, the group claimed two attacks targeting Syrian army personnel in northern and eastern Syria, in which a Syrian soldier and a civilian were killed.
The Syrian state news agency said forces foiled Monday's attack and killed one of the militants. It quoted a security source as saying Islamic State carried out the attack.
The Syrian government joined the U.S.-led coalition to combat Islamic State last year. In January, government forces seized control of Raqqa from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, along with much of the surrounding territory in northern and eastern Syria.
Meanwhile, U.S. forces on Monday began withdrawing from their largest military base in the northeast, according to three Syrian military and security sources - part of a broader pullout of U.S. troops who deployed to Syria a decade ago to fight Islamic State.
Reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Muhammad Al Gebaly and Feras Dalatey
U.S. forces began pulling out of their largest base in northeastern Syria on Monday, three Syrian military and security sources said, part of a wider departure as the U.S.-allied government in Damascus consolidates control.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel is working to build a new network of regional alliances to counter what he described as both the “weakened Iranian Shiite axis” and an “emerging radical Sunni axis,” according to Israeli media reports.
Islamic State on Thursday claimed responsibility for an attack that killed one Syrian government security officer and wounded another in eastern Syria, marking an escalation in the group's attacks against the country's new leadership.
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