The sprawling, hostile environment of Central Syria’s desert has proven itself to be an ideal sanctuary for ISIS militants seeking to reestablish the terrorist organization’s brutal rule over the region. Syrian military forces, backed by their Iranian and Russian sponsors, have so far found themselves failing to effectively combat the extremists in this region, far from the densely-populated cities in the west of the country.
Since June 10, ISIS has killed at least 26 Syrian soldiers, destroyed vehicles, and seized a weapons shipment of the Syrian military through a combination of IED and ambush attacks on Syrian military posts and convoys in the vast deserts in the Palmyra, Homs, and Deir-ez-Zor regions. This number includes two generals of the Syrian military.
Convoys of Syrian government troops have proven to be startlingly vulnerable to hit-and-run and IED attacks, with hundreds of casualties being inflicted on them so far this year, and an ever-increasing number of confirmed attacks, showing ISIS’ capabilities in the region to be increasingly emboldened by both the deadliness of their attacks and the lack of an effective response from the Syrian Army and its allies.