Daesh attack in Syria desert kills more than 30 regime troops and allied militia

File photo showing regime troops take up positions near the ancient city of Palmyra from Daesh in an operation on March 2, 2017. ( AFP)

• Daesh militants attacked regime troops in the Badiya area, the destination for extremists evacuated from southern Damascus.
• Syrian troops and allied foreign militia members among the dead in the Badiya attack near Palmyra.

BEIRUT: More than two dozen pro-government forces based in Syria’s desert died in a surprise Daesh attack Tuesday, a day after the extremists militants were removed from the outskirts of Damascus, a monitor said.
“At least 30 regime soldiers and allied militia were killed in an Daesh attack at dawn today, against one of their posts in the Syrian Badiya,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Among them were Iranian militiamen, said the Britain-based monitor.
The Badiya is a vast desert region stretching from central Syria to the eastern border with Iraq, where Daesh still holds small pockets.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the attack hit a small base east of Palmyra, the famed ancient city that Daesh has overrun twice in Syria’s war.
“It began with a car bomb targeting regime forces that set off clashes that are still ongoing,” he said.
Five Daesh militants were also killed.
Daesh militants launched their attack from a pocket they control in the Badiya, and which was the destination for extremists evacuated from southern Damascus on Sunday and Monday,” Abdel Rahman added.
Syria’s government on Monday seized a southern pocket of the capital from Daesh, announcing that the regime was back in full control of Damascus and its outskirts.
The Observatory, as well as a military source close to the regime, said the capture came after Daesh militants were bussed out of the zone to desert territory.