Islamic State Claims Syrian Army Bus Attack in Hasakah

The Islamic State group announced responsibility for an attack targeting a bus carrying Syrian army members in western rural Hasakah. At the same time, reports conflicted over the details of the attack and the scale of human losses.

According to Amaq, the Islamic State group’s affiliated agency, on Tuesday, May 12, the group’s fighters “set up a tight ambush” for a bus carrying Syrian army soldiers on the road to al-Alia town in the western countryside of Hasakah governorate.

The agency said the group’s fighters “surprised the bus with heavy fire from machine guns,” killing and wounding about six soldiers and damaging the bus.

The agency described bus attacks as a “military tactic” used by the group’s fighters in similar attacks against the former regime.

The agency did not publish any photos or video recordings documenting the details of the attack or the scale of the losses it announced.

Enab Baladi’s correspondent reported on Monday, May 11, that two people on a motorcycle targeted a personnel bus belonging to the Syrian army’s 64th Division near the al-Alia silos southwest of Ras al-Ain city.

The correspondent added that the site of the attack is only about one kilometer from a Turkish base in rural Hasakah. The attack killed two Syrian army members and wounded several others, with the injured transferred to Ras al-Ain National Hospital for treatment.

The correspondent said the death toll could rise, as some of the wounded suffered serious injuries.

For its part, the official Syrian Arab News Agency, SANA, quoted the Media and Communication Department at the Ministry of Defense as saying that “unknown individuals opened fire on the bus west of the al-Alia silos in rural Hasakah, killing two soldiers and wounding several members,” without giving further details.

The Hasakah Media Directorate published a video showing wounded Syrian army members arriving at Ras al-Ain Hospital in northern Hasakah after they were targeted by unknown individuals west of the al-Alia silos in rural Hasakah.

Repeated Attacks

The attack comes as part of a series of operations claimed by the Islamic State group against Syrian army members in the area. The conflicting accounts show a recurring pattern in the group’s statements, which often exaggerate the scale of the losses it inflicts.

In a similar incident on April 29, the Islamic State group claimed the killing of a Syrian army member in al-Rai town northeast of Aleppo, while media and government sources said he was a civilian and did not belong to the Ministry of Defense.

The group said, on April 29, that its soldiers targeted an army member in al-Rai town, killing him, according to what Enab Baladi monitored from the Sah al-Wagha website, which specializes in publishing the group’s news.

The incident took place on the al-Saa road between the city and the Insha’at area, according to journalist Ibrahim Bouzan from al-Rai city, which has no security presence or surveillance cameras.

Bouzan confirmed in an interview with Enab Baladi at the time that Mahmoud Farawati, 24, was a civilian and did not belong to the army, although he was wearing a military uniform during the incident, citing local sources.

On March 2, two members of the Syrian army’s 86th Division were killed by unknown individuals in the same town.

According to Enab Baladi’s information, the two men killed were Abdullah Ismail and Mohammad Othman, and they belonged to the Ministry of Defense.

The Group Changed Its Strategy

Researcher on Islamic groups Ahmed Abazid told Enab Baladi earlier, commenting on the nature of the Islamic State group’s operations at the current stage, that the group has radically changed its strategy since losing its last stronghold in al-Baghouz in 2019.

Abazid said the group “moved to a different model, which is operating as small hidden cells in each sector, while maintaining organizational cohesion and security vetting of members.”

Abazid explained that the group’s strategy after the fall of the Assad regime has not changed much in terms of style, “except that it has become active in wider areas, while facing greater threats of security exposure than before, as shown by the Syrian Interior Ministry’s operations announcing the arrest of several cells affiliated with the group.”