ISIS Targets New Syrian Government with Bombings

In a worrying turn of events, ISIS has directly attacked the Syrian government for the first time since its takeover, with bomb explosions in Sweida Province leading to reported casualties. The extremist group demonstrates an alarming resurgence following the recent shift in power.

The Islamic State (ISIS) has asserted its involvement in two bomb explosions targeting Syrian security forces, signaling its first direct confrontation with the new government established since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. According to the SITE Intelligence Group, ISIS has claimed that its operatives laid explosives that resulted in casualties among government soldiers and allied militia.

Although the Syrian government did not acknowledge the attacks, it reported on actions taken against ISIS operatives in the Damascus area within the past week. A monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, cited that one individual was killed, and three soldiers from the Syrian Army’s 70th Division sustained injuries after a patrol was struck by a remote-controlled landmine in eastern Sweida Province on Wednesday.

These claims come amid the backdrop of a region where ISIS had been mostly dormant for almost a decade. Sweida is primarily governed by the Druse minority, and the Syrian government's difficulty in establishing control has been exacerbated by sectarian violence. Recent clashes between local militants and government forces in the province have resulted in over 100 fatalities in late April and early May.

Since its territorial loss in Iraq and Syria roughly ten years ago, ISIS has maintained a low-level insurgency in eastern Syria. However, it has recently intensified its operations following the ousting of Assad, even plotting attacks in the capital, Damascus, and claiming responsibility for multiple incidents, including a car bombing in eastern Syria.