Four Syrian government security forces were killed Monday when ISIS militants attacked a checkpoint in northern Syria, according to the country’s state news agency, marking the terrorist organization’s most lethal strike against government troops since President Bashar al-Assad was removed from power.
The deadly incident occurred at a security post located west of Raqqa city and represents a significant increase in hostile activities by the extremist organization targeting President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s administration. This attack follows ISIS’s recent announcement just two days prior, when the group proclaimed “a new phase of operations” against Syria’s current leadership.
While ISIS has not yet taken responsibility for Monday’s deadly assault, the terrorist group did claim credit for two separate attacks over the weekend that targeted Syrian military personnel in the country’s northern and eastern regions, resulting in the deaths of one soldier and one civilian.
Syrian state media reported that government forces successfully repelled the Monday attack and eliminated one of the attacking militants. A security official confirmed to the news agency that ISIS was responsible for carrying out the assault.
Syria’s government became part of the U.S.-led international effort to defeat ISIS last year. During January, Syrian government troops took control of Raqqa city from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and secured significant portions of surrounding territory across northern and eastern Syria.
At the same time, American military personnel started their departure Monday from their primary base in northeastern Syria, according to three Syrian military and security officials. This withdrawal is part of a larger pullback of U.S. forces who were originally deployed to Syria ten years ago to combat ISIS.
