Regime bombs IS jihadists

BEIRUT: Syrian regime forces bombed a desert area under the control of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group near the province of Sweida in southern Syria late on Sunday, a war monitor said.

“The bombing and fighting between the regime forces and the IS has intensified during the evening and are continuing,” said Rami Abdel Rahmane, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

This military operation would be “the start of a regime offensive to dislodge IS from this pocket” in the Badiya desert of Sweida, he said, adding that “a major military reinforcement [of regime troops] is massing” in the area.

The fighting comes as Russia failed in its negotiations to free some 30 civilian hostages of the Druze religious minority taken by the IS last month. The kidnappings followed a series of coordinated attacks against Sweida province which left more than 250 people dead.

On Sunday, the Observatory and news website Sweida24 announced that IS had decapitated one of the hostages, a 19-yearold male student.

This execution came “after the failure of the negotiations with the regime forces”, according to the Observatory.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, an ArabKurd alliance which fought against IS with the support of the United States, indicated Sunday that it was ready to exchange with IS captured jihadists for the remaining Druze civilian hostages.