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ISIS Launch Surprise Attack Against Regime Forces In Syrian Desert Area

Russian forces in the city of Amuda, north Syria (AFP)
Russian forces in the city of Amuda, north Syria (AFP)
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ISIS Launch Surprise Attack Against Regime Forces In Syrian Desert Area

Russian forces in the city of Amuda, north Syria (AFP)
Russian forces in the city of Amuda, north Syria (AFP)

ISIS militants killed on Thursday at least 18 Syrian regime forces following a surprise attack launched on several military positions in the central Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-regime fighters backed by Russian air strikes were battling off the militants on the outskirts of the desert town of Al-Sukhna in Homs province.

“ISIS has captured houses in the city of Al-Sukhna in the Homs desert after fierce battles with regime forces and loyalists,” it said.

The watchdog said the attack was accompanied by an exchange of fire between both parties while Russian jets pounded frontlines and other positions in the desert area.

The air raids and clashes killed 11 ISIS militants, the Britain-based monitor said.

Syrian regime forces recaptured Al-Sukhna from ISIS in 2017.

Thursday's attack was the deadliest in the area since December, when ISIS militants attacked an army garrison in a gas facility east of Homs city, killing four civilians and 13 troops or militiamen, the Syrian Observatory said.

US-backed forces had expelled the militants from their last patch of territory in eastern Syria a year ago. However, ISIS militants still retain a presence in the vast Badia desert stretching across the country through Homs province and eastwards to the Iraqi border, and continue to carry out deadly attacks.

The Observatory said that since late March 24, it has documented the death of at least 410 members of regime forces and loyalists of Syrian and non-Syrian citizens, including at least two Russians.

It added that 75 members of Iranian-backed militias of non-Syrian citizens were killed in ISIS attacks, and ambushes in the western Euphrates, and the desert of Deir Ezzor, Homs and Sweida.

Meanwhile, military sources said that the Russian police sent Thursday new reinforcements to its bases in the Qamishli airport in the Hasaka province.

The sources said that a convoy of around 20 Russian vehicles and tens of soldiers entered the airport, two days after crossing the M4 highway, despite the presence of US forces along the area stretching from Tal Tamer to Qamishli.

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Kurdistan Salary Crisis Clouds Eid Celebrations in Baghdad

Leader of the Hikma Movement Ammar al-Hakim delivers his Eid speech to supporters in Baghdad (Hikma Media)
Leader of the Hikma Movement Ammar al-Hakim delivers his Eid speech to supporters in Baghdad (Hikma Media)
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Kurdistan Salary Crisis Clouds Eid Celebrations in Baghdad

Leader of the Hikma Movement Ammar al-Hakim delivers his Eid speech to supporters in Baghdad (Hikma Media)
Leader of the Hikma Movement Ammar al-Hakim delivers his Eid speech to supporters in Baghdad (Hikma Media)

The festivity of Eid al-Adha in Baghdad was overshadowed by growing political tensions, particularly over the unresolved salary crisis in the Kurdistan Region.

While Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani opted for a neutral gesture - issuing a general holiday greeting and performing Eid prayers without comment - other political leaders used the occasion to speak pointedly about the nation’s deepening challenges.

Al-Sudani attended Eid prayers at Al-Rasoul Mosque in the capital, choosing to remain silent on political matters. However, influential Shiite cleric and head of the Hikma Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali both delivered speeches that touched on the country’s fraught political and economic landscape.

Al-Hakim warned against the use of political money in Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for November 11, 2025.

Calling the vote “historic,” he emphasized the need for electoral integrity and urged political blocs to adopt a national code of conduct barring the use of illicit funds. “There is talk of a market where candidates and voters are being bought. This is corruption and betrayal of the people,” he said.

He also addressed Iraq’s perennial electricity crisis, calling for a “strategic state of emergency” to resolve the issue once and for all. “Despite changing governments and large budgets, the same problems repeat themselves,” he noted.

Al-Hakim stressed the need for governments to define clear priorities, including agriculture, water, and clean energy, and said Iraqis “deserve a dignified life that begins with stable electricity and ends with technological advancement.”

Khazali, meanwhile, focused his remarks on the Kurdistan Region salary crisis, criticizing accusations from Kurdish media that he was responsible for the federal government’s suspension of public sector salaries in the region. “It’s simply not true,” he said. “Unfortunately, salaries remain unpaid to this day.”

He stressed that despite Iraq’s wealth, the country continues to suffer from poverty and unemployment, and argued that the roots of these issues lie in the legacy of the former Ba’ath regime.

Khazali also pointed out that Kurdistan experiences higher poverty rates than the rest of Iraq, and that many Iraqi refugees abroad are from the region.

Turning to the electricity crisis, he warned this summer could be the most difficult in years, as outages are expected to worsen. “All past governments focused on increasing output but ignored the need to instill a culture of energy conservation,” he said, warning that some groups may seek to exploit the crisis to sow internal unrest.