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Two Syrian soldiers were killed in the northern governorate of Aleppo, the Defense Ministry said on June 20, with ISIS later claiming responsibility.
Citing the ministry, the state-run SANA news agency said that the soldiers were gunned down in an attack near the city of Manbij in the eastern Aleppo countryside. The slain soldiers were members of the 76th Division.
ISIS later confirmed that it was behind the deadly attack in a statement shared by its official news agency, Amaq. The terrorist group said that its fighters opened fire at two soldiers of the “apostate Syrian army” at the town of Tahna, located some eight kilometers to the west of Manbij.
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The attack was the second to target Syrian soldiers in under 24 hours. Deputy Governor of the northeastern governorate of al-Hasakah Ahmed al-Hilali said on June 19 that 12 troops were lightly to moderately wounded in an ambush that targeted a bus carrying members of the 60th Division.
The bus came under machine gun fire as it was traveling on a roading linking the towns of the Tal Tamr and Ras al-Ain in the northwestern countryside of al-Hasakah.
Although ISIS has not yet claimed responsibility for this attack, it is the main suspect as its cells are known to be active in the governorate.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, there have been reports of ISIS recruiting, rearming and reorganizing, particularly in central Syria.
And after the Islamic-led Interim Government’s offensive against Kurdish forces in the north and east of the country last year — which resulted in the release of thousands of suspected ISIS members — the group’s influence has significantly expanded in those regions.
Over the past week, the terrorist group carried out three attacks in different parts of Syria, killing two soldiers and wounding a government official.
The Islamist-led Interim Government has been making some efforts to counter ISIS, but as evidenced by the recent attacks, the influence of the terrorist group is growing.
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