Syria: At least 183 killed in IS attacks

IN A STATEMENT ON THE TELEGRAM MESSAGING APP, ISLAMIC STATE SAID “SOLDIERS OF THE CALIPHATE” ATTACKED SECURITY POSITIONS AND GOVERNMENT TARGETS IN SWEIDA CITY

BEIRUT : A string of suicide blasts and raids claimed by the Islamic State group killed more than 180 people in southern Syria on Wednesday, in one of the jihadists’ deadliest ever assaults in the country.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacks hit several areas of the largely government-held southern province of Sweida, where IS retains a presence in a northeastern desert region.

They came almost a week into a deadly Russia-backed regime campaign to oust IS fighters from a holdout in a neighbouring province of the country’s south.

IS claimed responsibility for the violence, saying “soldiers of the caliphate” attacked Syrian government positions and security outposts in Sweida city, then detonated explosive belts.

The Britain-based Observatory said four suicide bombers targeted Sweida city while others hit small villages to the north and east and shot residents in their homes.

At least 183 people were killed, including 89 civilians, the Observatory said.

The remaining 94 dead were pro-regime fighters, mostly residents who picked up arms to defend their homes, it said.

Sweida, whose residents are mostly from the Druze minority, has been relatively insulated from the war that has ravaged the rest of the country since 2011.

“It’s the bloodiest death toll in Sweida province since the start of the war” and one of the deadliest ever IS attacks in Syria, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. He said regime forces eventually ousted IS from several villages its fighters had seized and put an end to the attacks.