Click to see full-size image. (Syrian Arab News Agency)
An explosion rocked a police center in the town of al-Mayadeen in the eastern governorate of Deir Ezzor late on May 18, killing three policemen and wounding at least two others.
Al-Mayadeen District Director Khalil Abdel Moneim al-Ayoub said later in a statement published by the Syrian Arab News Agency that “initial investigations and a site inspection revealed that the cause was a car bomb.”
“Security forces and police rushed to secure the site of the explosion and complete the investigation. We reassure our people in Al-Mayadeen that the treacherous hand will not escape punishment, and that we are vigilant to protect the country and its people,” he added.
No group has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing, but ISIS remains the main suspect. Even before the fall of the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad, the terrorist group was highly active in Deir Ezzor. The group’s cells launched attacks in Al-Mayadeen, which is located in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside, on a regular basis.
Click to see full-size image. (Syrian Arab News Agency)
Click to see full-size image. (Syrian Arab News Agency)
The bombing came just a day after Syrian security forces raided four hideouts of ISIS cells in the northern city of Aleppo, killing two terrorists and arresting several others. A member of the security forces was also killed.
Last week, ISIS criticized Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa over his recent meeting with United States President Donald Trump in the Saudi capital, Riyah.
The terrorist group considered, in an editorial in its weekly newspaper, Al-Naba, that the meeting revealed a clearer picture of Sharaa ideological disagreement with the so-called “Islamic State”. It also accused Sharaa of replacing the “Milahat Ibrahim” – referring to the Islamic religion -with the “Abraham Accords,” a series of bilateral agreements on Arab–Israeli normalization signed between 2020 and 2021.
Following the fall of the Assad regime last December, it was reported that ISIS stole loads of weapons from the former Syrian Arab Army and began working on organizing and training its cells.
It is very possible that the terrorist group will not waste its newly-found resources on a scattered insurgency similar to that it waged against the former regime for years. Instead, the group may be preparing for a surprise large-scale offensive, similar to the one it waged in western Iraq in 2014. The group may be even eyeing the Syrian capital, Damascus.
The Islamist nature of the Interim Government makes it especially vulnerable to ISIS, as Islamists forces have rarely shown desire and determination to fight more radical groups.
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rats fighting in a sack.