Eurasia Press & News
SOHR sources say that joint forces of the National Defense militia, the Palestinian Al-Quds Brigade and the pro-Russian Fifth Corps, as well as regime forces, continue to comb areas in the Syrian desert, from Kabajib and al-Shoula west of Deir ez-Zor to al-Sukhna, as part of the security campaign that began on the 16th of this months, which aims to secure the Deir ez-Zor-Homs road, after the ambushes and escalating operations of the Islamic State, which continues launching new attacks on the Syrian regime and its allies.
The security campaign, which began a week ago, with intensive Russian air support, by executing more than 130 airstrikes since the start of the campaign, targeting the areas held by the group in the deserts of Homs and Deir ez-Zor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented fatalities, as a result of shelling and clashes in the first week of the new campaign, where 31 pro-Russian fighters, regime soldiers and allied militiamen were killed in bombings, shootings and clashes with ISIS members in the deserts of Homs and Deir al-Zour, while 17 ISIS members were killed in Russian airstrikes and clashes.
Since 24th of March 2019, SOHR has documented the killing of at least 1,226 regime soldiers and loyalists of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, including at least two Russians, and 145 Iranian-backed militiamen of non-Syrian nationalities. All were killed in attacks, bombings and ambushes by the “Islamic State”, west of Euphrates in the deserts of Deir Ezzor, Homs, and Al-Suwaidaa.
Also, four civilians working in gas fields, 11 shepherds and four other people were killed and documented by SOHR in the same period, from late March 2019 until today. They were killed in attacks by ISIS cells. While 650 ISIS members were also killed in attacks and bombardment in the same period.
