ISIS Carried out 15 Operations in Syrian Desert in January

A file photo published by the “As Suwayda 24” website, of a combing operation in the Syrian Badia.
A file photo published by the “As Suwayda 24” website, of a combing operation in the Syrian Badia.
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ISIS Carried out 15 Operations in Syrian Desert in January

A file photo published by the “As Suwayda 24” website, of a combing operation in the Syrian Badia.
A file photo published by the “As Suwayda 24” website, of a combing operation in the Syrian Badia.

The ISIS group carried out 15 attacks in Syria’s desert (Badia) in January, killing 21 regime soldiers and members of proxy militias, including 12 Iranian-backed Syrian and non-Syrian militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed on Thursday.

It said one ISIS member was killed in those attacks.

“ISIS continues its attacks in different areas controlled by the Syrian regime and its allies in the Syrian desert in Homs, Deir Ezzor and Al-Raqqa,” the Britain-based group said on its website.

On January 4, the Observatory said two Afghan members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed by a landmine planted in a house near a shopping center designated for Iran-backed militias in the Al-Jamaiah neighborhood, west of Palmyra.

The next day, two regime-backed National Defense Forces (NDF) members were severely injured by a landmine war remnant planted by ISIS near the Al-Rasafa area in the southwestern Raqqa desert. The regime members were carrying out combing operations in the desert.

On January 7, a regime soldier was killed and at least four others sustained injuries in a surprise attack by ISIS cells in the Juaydeen area in Al-Tabaqah desert in western Raqqa. The terrorist group had taken advantage of the foggy conditions to carry out the operation.

Two days later, ISIS fighters opened machine-gun fire at a regime military outpost near Al-Jalaa town in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. The ensuing clashes left one ISIS member dead, while the others fled the scene.

That same day, a Syrian member of local Iran-backed militias was killed in an attack by ISIS cells on the militias’ military headquarters in Palmyra city in the eastern Homs countryside.

Also, ISIS cells attacked regime positions in Al-Masrib desert in western Deir Ezzor countryside, killing several regime forces.

On January 12, a regime captain died of the injury he has sustained in the explosion of a landmine in a military vehicle in the Al-Tanf area in the 55 km de-confliction zone, near the Syria-Jordan-Iraq border.

Three days later, a regime soldier was killed in an ISIS attack on regime positions in Al-Sokhna desert in the Homs countryside.

On January 16, another regime soldier was killed in an attack, by unknown parties believed to be linked to ISIS, on a regime military post near the Al-Madhoul road in the Al-Kharitah desert in western Deir Ezzor.

The next day, four regime soldiers were injured by an improvised explosive device that was planted by ISIS cells on the road to the Al-Thawra oil field in Al-Tabaqah desert, west of Raqqa.



Lebanon’s President Reveals the Country’s Stance on Relations with Israel

 Lebanese President Joseph Aoun looks on during a meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun looks on during a meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
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Lebanon’s President Reveals the Country’s Stance on Relations with Israel

 Lebanese President Joseph Aoun looks on during a meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun looks on during a meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)

Lebanon has no plans to have normal relations with Israel at the present time, and Beirut’s main aim is to reach a “state of no war” with its southern neighbor, the country’s president said Friday.

President Joseph Aoun’s comments came as the Trump administration is trying to expand the Abraham Accords signed in 2020 in which Israel signed historic pacts with United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

In May, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said during a visit to France that his country is holding indirect talks with Israel to prevent military activities along their border from going out of control. Talks about peace between Israel and Syria have increased following the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad from power in December.

Aoun added in comments released by his office that only the Lebanese state will have weapons in the future, and the decision on whether Lebanon would go to war or not would be for the Lebanese government.

Aoun’s comments were an apparent reference to the armed Hezbollah group that fought a 14-month war with Israel, during which it suffered major blows including the killing of some of its top political and military commanders.

Hezbollah says it has ended its armed presence near the border with Israel, but is refusing to disarm in the rest of Lebanon before Israel withdraws from five overlooking border points and ends its almost daily airstrikes on Lebanon.

Earlier this week, US envoy Tom Barrack met with Lebanese leaders in Beirut, saying he was satisfied with the Lebanese government’s response to a proposal to disarm Hezbollah.

Hezbollah’s weapons have been one of the principal sticking points since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000. Since then, Hezbollah fought two wars with Israel, one in 2006, and the other starting a day after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.

The Hezbollah-Israel war, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire in November, left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction estimated at $11 billion. In Israel, 127 people, including 80 soldiers, were killed during the war.

“Peace is the state of no war and this is what is important for us in Lebanon at the present time,” Aoun was quoted as telling visitors on Friday. He added that “the matter of normalization (with Israel) is not included in Lebanon’s current foreign policy.”

Lebanon and Israel have been at a state of war since 1948.