Three people, two brothers and a woman, were killed in an ambush by the Islamic State (ISIS) in eastern Deir ez-Zor province, activists said Sunday.
The first brother was operating in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the second was a fighter in Usoud al-Sharqiya, a paramilitary group affiliated to the Syrian army.
Syrian regime forces and allied fighters have been caught in a series of ambushes, assassinations and bombings in the Syrian desert over the past two months, mostly carried out by ISIS.
Observers have warned that border closures and the mobilization of security resources due to the coronavirus pandemic could give rise to a surge in ISIS attacks.
Also in Deir ez-Zor, the US-led coalition, backed by the SDF, made an airdrop in the town of al-Basirah, tracking ISIS sleeper cells, local activists said Sunday.
At least ten suspected ISIS fighters were arrested in the raid.
The US forces have made dozens of airdrops in the former ISIS-held territory to eliminate ISIS sleeper cells.
The militant group, which once administered a proto-state the size of Great Britain, no longer has fixed positions, but it still has hundreds of fighters hunkered down in desert hideouts.
ISIS has been largely defeated in the country but has continued to carry out ambushes, assassinations and bombings and still poses a threat along the border area.
ISIS has also carried out deadly attacks in Iraq in recent weeks.
The radical group has killed thousands of people since 2014. At least 5,600 bodies were exhumed from ISIS mass graves in eastern Syria, according to local rights groups.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
