ISIS Attack Kills 14 Syrian Regime Forces in Badia Desert

SDF members are seen near a river crossing (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
SDF members are seen near a river crossing (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
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ISIS Attack Kills 14 Syrian Regime Forces in Badia Desert

SDF members are seen near a river crossing (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
SDF members are seen near a river crossing (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

At least 14 members of the Syrian government forces were killed in a surprise attack by ISIS on a military bus in central Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Tuesday.

The observatory said ISIS militants “launched a brutal attack on a military transport bus in the Tadmor desert in the eastern countryside of Homs,” resulting in the death of “at least 14 members of the government forces” with others sustaining injuries.

This is the second such attack this year. Last week, ISIS killed nine Syrian regime troops and militiamen in an attack on military posts in the eastern desert, according to the British-based monitor.

ISIS often targets positions or buses carrying soldiers or public officials, especially in the vast Syrian desert, where its fighters regrouped after losing their last piece of territory in Syria in March 2019.

Despite strikes launched primary by the US-led international coalition and others launched by Syria’s ally, Moscow, against ISIS leaders, positions and movements, the group’s militants still retain a presence in the vast Badia desert and continue to carry out deadly attacks against Syrian forces and pro-regime fighters in central and eastern Syria, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the east and northeast of the country.

Meanwhile, the SDF on Tuesday reported that three of its members were killed last Saturday in a Turkish drone strike near Ain Issa in the Raqqa governorate, north of Syria.

SDF has published the names of its three fighters. They are Khaled Hassan Al-Shawakh and brothers Imad and Muhammad Ali Rajab Al-Halat.



One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Reuters quoted Touma as saying.

"Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out," Touma said.

On May 19, Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. However, UNRWA continues to be banned from bringing aid into the enclave.

Israel and the United States have accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing from UN-led aid operations - which Hamas denies. They have instead set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, which the UN has refused to work with.

On Monday, UNICEF said that last month more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.