At least 53 killed in Syria attack blamed on ISIL: State media

No group has but claimed duty for the assault on truffle hunters in Syria’s central Homs province.

An image of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs at a military verify level on the doorway of the central Syrian city of Rastan, Homs province, Syria, 2018 [File: Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]

No less than 53 folks have been killed in an assault in Syria’s central desert province of Homs, state media has reported, blaming the killings on ISIL (ISIS).

The our bodies of the victims that had been taken to the Palmyra state hospital had gunshot wounds to the top, state information company SANA reported on Friday, citing the hospital’s head as saying.

State media mentioned the victims had been gathering desert truffles once they had been attacked. Homs province is managed by the Syrian authorities and its allies.

“Fifty-three residents who had been truffle searching had been killed throughout an assault by the terrorists of IS to the southwest of the city of Al-Sokhna” within the desert east of Homs, state tv reported.

The director of Palmyra hospital, Walid Audi, mentioned the useless had been 46 civilians and 7 troopers. 5 individuals who had been wounded had been transferred to a different hospital. One of many survivors informed SANA that ISIL fighters had burned their vehicles.

There have been no rapid claims of duty for the assault.

If confirmed that ISIL was accountable, the assault would mark the deadliest by the group since January 2022 when its fighters stormed a jail within the Kurdish-controlled northeastern metropolis of Hassakeh in a bid to free fellow ISIL members.

The group as soon as managed huge swathes of territory in Syria however misplaced its maintain on land in separate offensives by US-backed fighters, Syrian authorities forces backed by Russia, regional fighters and Turkish-backed rebels.

Now, ISIL makes use of sleeper cells to wage hit-and-run assaults in Syria.

Many individuals, together with ladies and kids, have been focused in recent times whereas truffle searching in central, northeastern and jap areas of Syria.

Syrian authorities troops are unfold skinny throughout the nation and rely closely on their allies – together with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Iran – to keep up management over territory.

Individually on Friday, america Central Command mentioned 4 US navy personnel had been injured in a blast throughout a raid that killed a senior ISIL chief in Syria, recognized as Hamza al-Homsi.