ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Five pro-Iran fighters were killed in eastern Syria on Sunday by an improvised explosive device (IED), a conflict monitor reported, blaming Islamic State (ISIS) militants. The militiamen were driving through a checkpoint on the Deir ez-Zor - al-Sukhna road when the IED detonated, killing five fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor. ISIS has increased its attacks in Syria in recent weeks, particularly in the vast expanses of desert where the group launches surprise attacks amid a security vacuum. On Tuesday, militants killed three Syrian army soldiers in the central province of Homs. On Saturday, they attacked a military checkpoint belonging to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to SOHR. ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called caliphate. While the group was declared territorially defeated in 2019, it continues to pose a serious security risk through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions. In late March, the SDF warned that ISIS still poses a threat to the world and the region as its defeat “requires dismantling its ideological breeding ground.” According to SOHR data, 380 people, including women and children, have lost their lives in ISIS attacks since early 2024.
