War Monitor: ISIS Group Kills Nine Syrian Soldiers

Members of the terrorist ISIS in Syria. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Members of the terrorist ISIS in Syria. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
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War Monitor: ISIS Group Kills Nine Syrian Soldiers

Members of the terrorist ISIS in Syria. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Members of the terrorist ISIS in Syria. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

ISIS militants killed nine Syrian soldiers in the war-torn country's vast Badia desert on Tuesday, a war monitor said.

"Nine Syrian soldiers were killed and three wounded" when they had gathered in the east of Hama province in central Syria, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, AFP reported.

ISIS has stepped up attacks in Syria in recent months, particularly in the Badia desert which runs from the outskirts of Damascus to the Iraqi border.

On February 2, the extremist group killed five members of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said the Britain-based Observatory.

An ISIS attack on January 9 killed at least 14 government soldiers in the east of Homs province, said the monitor, which relies on a network of sources in Syria for its reports.

The terrorist group overran large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, proclaiming its "caliphate" and launching a reign of terror.

It was defeated territorially in Syria in 2019 but its remnants continue to carry out deadly hit-and-run attacks and ambushes, particularly from desert hideouts.

Syria has been devastated by a civil war triggered in 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy protests and which has resulted in more than half a million deaths.



Iraqi PM Urges Trump to 'Work Towards Ending' Mideast Wars

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (Reuters)
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Iraqi PM Urges Trump to 'Work Towards Ending' Mideast Wars

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (Reuters)

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expressed hopes during a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump that he would keep his "promises to work towards ending wars" in the Middle East.

In the phone call, the Iraqi premier pointed to Trump's "campaign statements and promises to work towards ending wars in the region", a statement from Sudani's office said late Friday.

"The two sides agreed to coordinate efforts in achieving this goal," it added, AFP reported.

About 2,500 American troops are deployed in Iraq as part of a US-led coalition that was formed to help battle ISIS.

Bases hosting the American troops have been the target of dozens of rocket and drone attacks launched by Iran-backed groups in Iraq, which have also claimed attacks against Israel.

Baghdad has for years called on Washington to provide a clear timeline for the withdrawal of their remaining coalition troops.

The US and Iraq announced in late September that the international coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq within a year, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region.

But the joint statement and US officials did not say whether any American troops would remain in Iraq.

Under Trump's first term in office, relations deteriorated between the two countries after a US drone strike in January 2020 killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani -- the chief of the Quds Force and the architect of the Islamic republic's military operations abroad.

Also killed in that strike was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq's former paramilitary Hashed al-Shaabi that have been integrated into the armed forces.

As part of their investigations into Muhandis's assassination, the Iraqi judiciary issued a warrant for Trump's arrest in January 2021.