Nearly 250 dead in IS attacks in Syrian province
DAMASCUS - The death toll in coordinated Islamic State group suicide bombings and shootings in southern Syria rose to nearly 250 overnight and 180 wounded, a monitor said on Thursday.
Wednesday's attacks hit Sweida, a Druze-majority province mostly held by the government which had remained relatively insulated from the country's seven-year civil war.
The death toll climbed steadily throughout the day and into the night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said.
"The toll is now 246 people dead, including 135 civilians," said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.
The others killed were progovernment fighters or residents who had taken up arms to defend their villages.
"The toll keeps rising as civilians who were wounded are dying and people who were unaccounted for are found dead," Abdel Rahman said.
The onslaught began with a triple suicide bombing in the city of Sweida, which was followed by attacks with guns and explosives on villages to its north and east.
A fourth blast hit the provincial capital later in the day. The IS group claimed the assault hours later.
It was the worst bloodshed to hit Sweida province since the civil war began in 2011.
The Syrian army and locals succeeded in pushing back the IS from some areas infiltrated through the attacks, and the authorities foiled other would-be suicide bombings in the city, said state media.
Syrian state media reported deadly attacks on Sweida and surrounding villages but did not give a specific toll.
Diverting attention
The IS group attacks and bombings in Sweida have diverted the army's attention and released the pressure in the IS-held areas in the nearby western countryside of Daraa province near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where the Syrian army has been relentlessly striking the IS.
With the mediation and help of Russia, the army has already captured 90 percent of Daraa through battles and reconciliations, and rebels in the southwestern province of Quneitra near the Golan Heights have agreed to leave for rebel-held areas in northern Syria.
After Wednesday's attacks, some tribal leaders in Sweida said hundreds of young men are ready to join battles against the IS group in areas the terrorists stormed in the province's countryside.
The attacks prove that those countries supporting terrorism in Syria are attempting to pump life into terrorist organizations to achieve political gains, said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad when he met Russia's special envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev in Damascus.
Lavrentiev said that the attacks prove the rightful path followed by the Syrian government in fighting terrorism, according to the Presidential Media Office in Syria.
The United Nations condemned the bombings, calling for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Xinhua - Afp

(China Daily 07/27/2018 page11)