Syrian desert ambush shows limits to Al Assad's gains in civil war

Between six and 21 soldiers were killed the area, where Russian forces, Iranian advisers and pro-government militias operate alongside the Syrian army

Syrian soldiers take part in a demining training exercise near Damascus to minimise the risk of running into their own landmines. AFP

A deadly ambush of Syrian army soldiers near a desert supply route this week shed light on violent currents in strategic areas of the country, despite military advances by President Bashar Al Assad's forces.

The number of personnel killed on Wednesday in the Sukhnah area, 70km north-east of the city of Palymra, has varied from six to 21 soldiers, including two officers, according to loyalists who mourned the deaths on Facebook and published purported photos of the dead.

The attack occurred amid low-intensity Russian aerial bombing of suspected ISIS targets in the area, and as the Syrian army stationed more troops in the vicinity, according to an opposition figure, who did not want to be named because he is involved in intelligence gathering.

“There have been no real battles. But increased combing operations by the regime forces have exposed them to more risks of ambush and even running into their own, unmarked minefields,” the source said.

Suknah belongs to a part of the country that was captured by the military and pro-Iranian militias, from both ISIS and anti-Assad rebels at different stages of the civil war, now in its 13th year.

Regime forces were able to advance under massive Russian air cover, after Moscow's intervention in the Syrian civil war in late 2015.

Russia and Iran have since shared control of the area, which stretches north to the Euphrates River Valley, with ISIS fighters harassing their proxy militias from its rugged fringes.

Official Syrian media, which rarely discloses its own side’s military losses, has not reported on the ambush.

Some loyalists said the attack was carried out by ISIS while others referred to the attackers just as gunmen.

Dozens of soldiers, as well as pro-Iranian militia, mainly Shiite auxiliaries from Iraq, are killed in the area every year, without any mention in state media, Syrian opposition sources said.

They had been killed either by ISIS in a war of attrition the group has waged against US and Iranian proxies since a US-led campaign routed the group from most of eastern Syria in 2019. Others have died due to internal fighting, the sources said.

Clashes among the pro-Assad side are seen as occurring as result of competition over turf, protection money, oil smuggling and other aspects of the war economy.

A US air campaign, reliant on a Kurdish militia ground component, was instrumental in the demise of ISIS in Syria, although the group also fought Russian and Iranian-backed groups in the country, as well as anti-Assad rebel formations.

The civil war started in late 2011, after security forces suppressed a pro-democracy revolt, killing thousands of mainly Sunni civilians. The country has since fragmented along sectarian lines into zones controlled by regional and international powers.

The outpost of Sukhna, which sits between the M20 motorway and another road – both leading to the Euphrates, is a major supply line for Russian and Iranian-controlled zones, which contain gasfields and energy pipelines.

However, most of Syria's oilfields are situated in the US-controlled zone near Turkey.

Veteran Syrian political analyst Ayman Abdel Nour said the incident was politically advantageous to the regime because it comes at a time when calls are increasing in the West to reach an arrangement with the Syrian president.

The Assad regime gains in Europe and the US when it appears that its forces are a casualty of ISIS, Mr Abdel Nour said, cautioning that there was no definitive evidence that the extremist group was behind the attack.