Islamic State group claims first attack on Syrian government forces
since Assad's fall
[May 30, 2025]
By BASSEM MROUE
BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for two
attacks in southern Syria, including one on government forces that an
opposition war monitor described as the first on the Syrian army to be
adopted by the extremists since the fall of Bashar Assad.
In two separate statements issued late Thursday, IS said that in the
first attack, a bomb was detonated targeting a “vehicle of the apostate
regime,” leaving seven soldiers dead or wounded. It said the attack
occurred “last Thursday,” or May 22, in the al-Safa area in the desert
of the southern province of Sweida.
IS said that the second attack occurred this week in a nearby area
during which a bomb targeted members of the U.S.-backed Free Syrian
Army, claiming that it killed one fighter and wounded three.
There was no comment from the government on the claim of the attack and
a spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army didn't immediately respond to a
request for comment by The Associated Press.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the
attack on government forces killed one civilian and wounded three
soldiers, describing it as the first such attack to be claimed by IS
against Syrian forces since the fall of the 54-year Assad family's rule
in December.
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IS, which once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, is opposed
to the new authority in Damascus led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa,
who was once the head of al-Qaida’s branch in Syria and fought
battles against IS.
Over the past several months, IS has claimed responsibility for
attacks against the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic
Forces in the northeast.
IS was defeated in Syria in March 2019 when SDF fighters captured
the last sliver of land that the extremists controlled. Since then,
its sleeper cells have carried out deadly attacks, mainly in eastern
and northeast Syria.
In January, state media reported that intelligence officials in
Syria’s post-Assad government thwarted a plan by IS to set off a
bomb at a Shiite Muslim shrine south of Damascus.
Al-Sharaa met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia
earlier this month during which the American leader said that
Washington would work on lifting crippling economic sanctions
imposed on Damascus since the days of Assad.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement
after the meeting that Trump urged al-Sharaa to diplomatically
recognize Israel, “tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria” and
help the U.S. stop any resurgence of the Islamic State group.
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