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The Syrian security forces eliminated two senior ISIS leaders during an operation in the southern governorate of Daraa on May 9.
A security source told the Syrian Arab News Agency that the terrorists were ambushed between the towns of Tafas and Athman in the northern Daraa countryside, identifying the two as Hassan al-Hayek and Nabil al-Abdullah.
“The two terrorists were targeted and eliminated directly after following up their movements while they were attempting to monitor some military posts, using a stolen agricultural vehicle as camouflage,” the unnamed source told the state-run news agency.
Several assault rifles and guns were seized from the vehicle of the terrorists, some of which were Israeli-made, the source added.
Al-Hayek, a native of Tafas, and al-Abdullah, originally from the nearby town of al-Sihailiah, were reportedly behind a series of recent terrorist attacks that targeted military personnel and civilians in different parts of Daraa.
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ISIS’s influence in southern Syria is still strong. On April 6, an officer of the Syrian Police was killed in a drive-by shooting attack near the town of Qarfa in the northern Daraa countryside. The terrorist group confirmed its responsibility for the attack via its official news agency, Amaq, marking the first time it has announced an operation in southern Syria in around eight months.
The group is thought to be responsible for several other terrorist attacks, including three bombings and shootings near the Golan Heights front in al-Quneitra countryside that killed four Syrian service members and wounded seven others between April 13 and 20.
The Syrian military and security forces stepped up their operations against the terrorist group in Daraa late in April, raiding several hideouts and seizing loads of weapons. However, the terrorist group’s presence in the southern region will not likely end any time soon.
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