At least 30 killed in ISIS attack on Syrian army near Palmyra
Thirty Syrian army troops and Iran-backed forces were killed on Tuesday when ISIS attacked a military outpost near Palmyra in eastern Syria.
Residents said suicide bombers and armoured vehicles were used in the attack at dawn near a dam south-east of the ancient city.
On Monday, forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad flushed out the extremists from their last enclave in southern Damascus.
ISIS has seized Palmyra twice since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, and destroyed priceless artefacts.
Residents told AFP that the militants had come from hideouts in the vast stretch of desert they once controlled and that at least 30 troops and militiamen were killed.
In recent months, ISIS has intensified hit-and-run attacks in an area difficult for the army to secure, relying on ambushes to replenish their weapons and equipment, activists said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 26 people fighting on the Syrian regime side were killed. Among them were 17 non-Syrians, including Iranians.
Pro-government social media sites listed 16 officers and soldiers killed or injured, and said it was verifying the names of others.
ISIS, which was driven from most of the Euphrates River valley last year, now controls only two besieged desert areas in eastern Syria.